Are You Guilty of Being too Busy to be Profitable?

It’s been my experience that companies large and small, sophisticated and run by the seat of their pants all suffer from the mistaken belief that being busy and being profitable are related.

Staying busy isn’t enough, working efficiently on the right things is what matters. Having a partner is even better.

Surely being slow isn’t good for business but I mean busy as in focusing on the wrong things and missing revenue, even strategic revenue, because of said busy-ness. A startup blogger once wrote,

“Sure, setting up your home network and printer is important but don’t mistake that for working.”

How does this connect to local publishers?

Well, last fall I had a regional advertiser here in Northern California that had a budget that they needed to spend, target markets in mind and a willingness to pull the trigger. The only problem is that a couple of the markets were areas Locable didn’t yet have an partner i.e. a publisher-partner. So, I called a few publishers to introduce Locable and mentioned this advertiser (by name) that was interested in their market.

Not one but two different publications failed to follow up with me – here I am waiving money at them. When we finally connected I was informed that they were pretty busy… busy doing what that’s more important than growing your revenue?

To be sure, some of the revenue was non-traditional as in they weren’t buying display ads but rather social promotions. But, as we said with our recent post, social promotions are profitable ways to grow your Facebook Fanbase and your email opt-ins as a side-effect.

As a business owner intellectual curiosity is a prerequisite to remaining competitive over the long haul and as a business in an industry as dynamic and evolving as media is today having the foresight to investigate new opportunities isn’t just about remaining competitive it’s about staying in business. To be sure, some publishers chase every recent fad and that’s equally destructive but if you combine intellectual curiosity with a healthy dose of skepticism you can find true, sustainable, value-adding opportunities that seamlessly plug into your business… like becoming a Locable Affiliate.

If you want to learn more about efficiently evolving into a media business from a publishing business while adding new value to readers and advertisers contact us to schedule a webinar.