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IN THIS ISSUE:
Dan Klein joins PSC Group as VP of Operations for St. Louis. Takes on a "real job" and confuses everyone
Come join me Friday, January 20th at a wine-tasting benefitting Family Support Network
Because it's not "what" you know...
Featured Article
Facing the world's most exasperating answer
By Dan Klein with lots of help from Mary Ann Baker
A
few weeks ago, I was sitting in an informational seminar for entrepreneurs
and somebody asked a question on behalf of a client. (You know, it was
one of those "it's not for me, it's for a friend" kind of situations.)
The guy presented the story of a product company and asked if the panel
believed the company was in an appropriate stage to initiate PR efforts.
The
panel's answer was unanimous: "It all depends," they said. As we audience
members looked at each other with raised eyebrows, it occurred to me that
the panel was right. It does depend on what's going on in the company's
business, where they are with regard to budget, and about a jillion other
issues. Clearly, to give good advice, the panel needed more information.
Because
I'm the buttinsky type - and not because I knew any better than the panel
did - I jotted down some thoughts and handed my note to the guy. The note
explained that I do believe there is a general phase of business that
a PR strategy is perfect for. I highlighted which stage I thought it was,
and explained why.
Later,
I kept thinking about the guy's question and did some research on the
subject. To my surprise, not only did I not discover a formula, I didn't
find much that addressed the subject at all. Instead, I found more confirmation
of my own observation: It seems most entrepreneurs do what they think
"needs to be done," basing their decisions on what they've seen in the
past or what their consultant or agency tells them makes sense.
There's
a book I like - "Crossing the Chasm" by Geoffrey Moore - which lays out
phases for software development. Moore asserts the point of greatest peril
in the development of a high-tech market lies in making the transition
from an early market dominated by a few visionary customers to a mainstream
market dominated by a large block of customers who are predominantly pragmatists
in orientation. The gap between these two markets is called "The Chasm."
Moore's thesis is based on the following diagram.
OK,
so here's where I have to start making things up
Read the rest of the article...
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