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Turning over rocks

August, 2014

Danny Meyer, the wildly successful NY restrauranteur tells a story about fly fishing outside Aspen, CO. His guide for the trip, a young but well-respected fisherman carefully walked into the stream knelt down and picked up a rock. Turning it over he called Danny over to look at the underside of the rock. Danny saw nothing. The young guide then pointed out dozens of tiny insects hatching on the rock. This information then told him exactly which fly to tie on his line. The point? “There was a world of information under that rock if one only knew enough or cared enough to look for it.”
You don’t have to pick up a fly rod to put this lesson to valuable use in marketing your business. You can’t know enough about your customers. It makes no difference whether you manufacture automobiles or run a small boutique; knowing and interacting with your customers is essential. Picking up on signals, even the smallest ones, can alert you to any number of marketing opportunities as well as potential challenges.
There are many forms of market research able to uncover valuable insights about your customers, their relationship to your company, and your competitors. A common pitfall is thinking you know your customers. Just like the stream and the insects, change is constant. What was true yesterday or last month or last year may not be true at all today or next quarter. Develop a relationship with your target audience, understand them as you do a good friend and you will have a relationship that benefits your company and can fuel healthy, reliable growth.
Of course knowing how to interpret and subsequently put all that information to good use is another topic for another time. Until then, turn over rocks and start fishing.

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