What is that?

November 16, 2015

Recently, I was driving down the highway and on one of those large signs that report traffic conditions, there was a message asking motorists to keep an eye out for a white SUV and it gave the license number. At the top of the message was it read “Blue alert.”

I’ve heard of Amber alerts, red alerts, yellow alerts, silver alerts, and even a local alert called a Medina Alert. But what’s a blue alert?  My next step was to check out Wikipedia when I got to my destination.

As it turns out, blue alerts are issued when a police officer has been the victim of a shooting.   The public is notified and we all work together to put a perpetrator behind bars. Think crowdsourcing to capture a scofflaw.  This is a really good idea – except it can be a much better idea if more people knew about it before they use it.

This is often the case with any great idea.  If you don’t have complete plan for communicating and implementing your idea, you end up with people scratching their heads.  Or worse, they just ignore and never give it a second thought.  The lesson here is when you’re ready to launch the next big idea, you need a plan.

I learned a long time ago, that every business needs a business plan.  And central to that plan is a marketing plan.

A business plan is a simple concept, but can be complicated to execute.  Think of your business plan as a comprehensive road map for the success of your organization.  Often, business plans are put together to explain a new concept to investors and institutional lenders.  It describes the overall idea as well as the long-term mission of your organization.  The business plan introduces the people at the helm and describes their strengths.  It also lays out financial goals and considerations.  And as I mentioned, if done right it incorporates a marketing plan.

Let’s be clear, we are marketed to nearly every minute of the day.  It can be anywhere – TV, Internet, print, clothing, sports venue, athletes uniforms the computer or phone you are reading this blog from right now.  But the thing about marketing is that it works.  When done well it works, if not, then you will never act on it.

A marketing plan supports the mission of the business (and the constantly evolving business plan) by describing how you’ll capture the public’s attention and wow them. The marketing plan is your road map to help ensure your grand idea isn’t ignored.

Unfortunately, many existing businesses would never consider developing a business plan.  The perception is that business plans are just for new businesses.  But, creating or updating a business plan is more than worth the time for nearly every business.  A business plan forces to you to look at your business in the same way that potential investor would.  It’s an unblinking proof-of-concept.  It’s amazing when you take the time to lay your operation out in front of you what the potential problems you can spot.  This type of effort is sometimes called a SWOT Analysis.  The acronym SWOT stands for Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats.  It is a simple way to look at your business from different perspectives such as weaknesses in management, lower than projected income, potential customers, growth areas, inventory problems, and a lame or non-existent marketing plan.

As a part of a larger operation, like a museum or other cultural venue, it’s easy to see your store as small boat being tugged along by a big ship. As the institution goes, so goes the store.  Who needs marketing?

The retail landscape is littered with businesses who thought they were bulletproof.  Circuit City, Radio Shack, Borders Books, and Linen and Things are just a few of the retailers who believed they had it all figured out.  But in retail, when you don’t stay on top of your evolving business and marketing  plans,  you’ll never know who is going to be the next Blockbuster.

Blue alerts, along with the myriad of all the other alerts, are intrinsically a good idea.  But a good idea without a plan to communicate its value and what it can do will remain just an idea.  Having a good idea is great.  But having a successful good idea only works when accompanied by a well thought-out plan.

Steve White is a writer and entrepreneur based in Denver.