Built to Adapt

June 9, 2011 · Filed Under Online Advertising Australia · Comment 
Article by Corri Byrne, dLook General Manager - Like dLook on Facebook

Is your business ready for disruption? Upheaval? What are the things you can do to future proof your business? This article explores business models that are built to adapt.

Business Models need to be Built to Adapt

In every market there are industry captains that excel at executing their current business model, that’s what makes them industry leaders.

However most of them slowly become hostages of the status quo - “the way we do things round here slowly morphs into the way we think round here.”

History is littered with industry captains that lose out to start-up companies who appear from nowhere, and in a few short years overtake the established leader.

Disrupting the Landscape

Cloud computing is bringing in a new disruptive economic environment that will make these transitions occur @ NetSpeed.

This speed of change and market volatility challenges the sustainability of “business as usual” in many markets, placing enormous pressure on any individual enterprise’s ability to respond to market disruption in a timely manner, as most enterprises are now heavily reliant on a multiplicity of external supply partner relationships to produce and deliver their products and services to market.

Looking back at history, IBM in the 1960’s and 70’s dominated the mainframe computer market, and it did so very successfully against competitors like ICL (UK), Bull (France), Univac, Honeywell, Fujitsu and CDC.

IBM quickly achieved value keystone status within the ecosystems it competed in.

IBM’s technology capability, capacity, service level availabilities, integrated sales channels and associated high cost structures were sustained by burgeoning mainframe margins. IBM’s cost base expanded as their enterprise structure grew to manage and support the strategic relationships they forged with their customers.

Their customers (usually large enterprises) were generally value keystone players in their respective ecosystems and also on the trail of sustaining their existing capabilities and capacities.

This capability and value sustaining model utilised by customer and supplier resulted in creating incremental innovations that maintained and improved the business as usual approach in the computer industry.

Consequently IBM largely missed out on the minicomputer market to new competitors such as DEC, Prime, Data General Etc. Subsequent to the minicomputer market, IBM misread the PC market by seeing the value opportunity in the production of PC’s rather than the associated operating systems and software services that supported them. In the case of DEC and Prime, who had successfully led IBM in the minicomputer business, they completely missed out on the PC market.

The IBM PC division has since been sold to Lenovo (China).

Death is Part of the Cycle

The list of market failure examples is endless and applicable to any industry.

All of the above quoted enterprises had the capabilities, resources and capacities to test the relevance of their strategy and value assumptions within their ecosystems; and respond to the disruptive challenges they faced. Yet none of them did so, they lacked the insight to recognise and adapt to change in their business ecosystems.

It appears as if incumbent market leaders throughout history spent their time gathering evidence to support the belief that their strategies, business models and supporting value assumptions were permanently relevant and sustainable.

Lessons to be Learnt

So what can be gleaned from these cyclical trends:

  • All enterprises and their capabilities, strategies, value assumptions, capacities and availabilities within an ecosystem are dynamically interlinked with their ecosystem partners.
  • Existing capabilities, capacities and business models, are not permanent and profitable belief systems to be defended at all costs.

Whether you are dominating your market or a new entrant, it is important to maintain an adaptable business model, focused on the rapidly changing market conditions. Maintain an appreciation that your business is completely reliant on numerous external factors - all of which could significantly impact your market position, long term strategy plans or entire industry relevance.

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Changing Habits of Google Search

June 3, 2011 · Filed Under Online Advertising Australia, dLook Blog · 1 Comment 
Article by Mande Crnjak, dLook Account Manager - Like dLook on Facebook

How do you use a search engine? What are the words you type to find your page match? This article explores the world of Google search.

Google search. Searches in Google. Google Searching.

Everybody searches differently, especially when looking for a particular product or service.

The question is … are you searching your capital city? Your local area? Your local suburb?

All too often advertisers want to promote themselves as “Plumber Sydney” or “Painter Melbourne” when their real service area is just the Hills district or Mornington Peninsula.

When business owners are looking to promote themselves, they see the Internet as the opportunity to immediately tap unforeseen markets, hitherto unavailable customers - one’s who are just waiting to come across a Plumber in Penrith who will travel 45 minutes to service their emergency repairs in North Sydney.

As a business owner talking with your SEO company, web designer or online directory provider what are you asking them to optimise your page around. What are the keywords that you are trying to be found for and in what geographic area?

Keyword Searches and Suggestions

With the development of Google Places, the Google map and Google Instant (suggested search phrases as you’re typing), a search query is often being generated while you type and predictive results popping up to direct your thinking.
So while you are looking for a specific business or a particular product / service, you’re search words are being made up for you.

Are Google’s words really what you’re looking for?

For example, assume you are in a suburb in South Sydney and are looking for a carpet cleaner.

You go into Google, start typing in “Carpet Cle”… and before you even finish typing the rest of the word, Google has given you the options, “carpet cleaning, carpet cleaning Sydney, carpet cleaning Newcastle, carpet cleaning Wollongong, carpet cleaners, carpet cleaners warehouse”.

So you then click “Carpet Cleaning Sydney” as this seems the most relevant. But the results don’t meet your needs as “Carpet Cleaning Sydney” generates search page listings that are located on the North Shore, Western Suburbs or the Sydney CBD.

Are you going to choose one of these businesses? Or are you going to refine your search? So how often are we refining our search terms?

When searching for businesses which provide us with our desired product or service, we are all refining our searches because:

  • We want to support our local community
  • Our local suppliers often provide a quicker and more reliable service
  • It’s easier to return the product or call back someone regarding the service if it wasn’t quite right
  • We don’t have to pay travel costs like tolls, fuel, or be inconvenienced by the time to travel.
    Extra delivery costs – additional postage & handling fees particularly when buying from online stores

You may be here in front of me, but how do I find you?

Depending on the type of product or service you are looking for, once you’ve done a local search to find a business do you make the call? Would you go in store to see their range of products for yourself?

So how, as a business owner, do you know if your customer has found you online via your website, your directory listing or social pages? How do you measure the success of your online brand?

Are we searching cities at all?

If you live or work in the city, you are most likely searching that city.

But let’s say you are searching for a restaurant. Are you searching “Melbourne”? Or would you type in “Melbourne City”? Or “Sydney CBD”?

Or would you even go as far as typing in “Italian Restaurant Lygon Street”? Or in Sydney “Thai Restaurant Oxford Street”?

These are the types of keywords people do use to search … so why aren’t business trying to optimize their pages, whether they’re websites, directory listings, advertising campaigns, around these words?

From the North to the South to the East to the West

When looking for a plumber I don’t need to know that it takes 45 minutes to get here - I want you down the road. Well I want you in my house asap and fixing my leak, my burst water pipe or whatever emergency has beset me.

If I’m booking you over the phone following a web search and then you explain that it won’t take long, but I will have to charge you for tolls … hey, give me a local plumber anytime. I don’t want the extra costs or the extra inconvenience.

More and more people are understanding how to use search engines and how to generate the results that suit their needs. It is becoming more specific in keywords and more local in geography.

CompassIf people live in the service area then they know how to search it … whether that’s the Hills district, north shore, Southeast Melbourne or the Valley these terms and specific suburbs are showing up with increasing regularity in search engines.

The development of cities which are now moving out in every direction, North, South, East and West, has not only urbanized search terms in relation to these areas, but also keyword searches like “Sydney metro” or “Adelaide Hills”. Are you using these types of keywords to gain customers from these areas?

If you own a business and are advertising online, whether it’s your own website, a directory listing or an online advertising campaign, consider where you want to service and the suburbs and areas that surround it and use these linked phrases and suburbs / areas as your primary search terms to get the best clicks for your buck.

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