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Given some changes we’re going through with Cowgirl Living right now, I thought I’d post today about learning to roll with the punches.  Since I’ve already talked a bit about business plans I thought a good follow-up would be what to do when things don’t turn out the way they were supposed to in your plan.

This economy has caused a lot of business owners to re-evaluate their business models and make changes to their operation to stay sustainable and relevant.  I’ll use an example from my own industry since that’s what I’m most familiar with.  Magazines have relied primarily on print advertising as their main source of revenue for decades.  Television, radio and Internet have all changed the ways magazines operated.  For years, publishers have cut their subscription rates to next to nothing so they could keep their circulation numbers high to impress advertisers.  Now, the advertisers aren’t spending enough money to pay for the magazine and subscription and newsstand revenues have disintegrated.  Right now the magazine industry is working to reinvent this model and, although no one has a clear answer, many publishers are working to make print and online work together.  We can’t just throw away the entire industry all together so we have to evolve.  We have to roll with the punches.

There are a lot of examples of this in the horse business as well.  How can you change your business to stand out when a new competitor enters your area?  What can you do to drum up business when the economy is down?  Can you adapt new technology if it’s something your client wants?  If sales take off how will you manage the increased work flow?

Whether it’s learning a new skill, changing your marketing plan or specializing within your industry, change is a part of business. In order to survive for the long haul, your business has to respond to changes in consumer demand, the economy, increased competition and whatever else fate throws your way.  Here are some great example of businesses that have evolved and diversified - notice they’ve all been around for a long time and are recognizable brands.

Nintendo started out making playing cards.

Mazda started out manufacturing machine tools before cars.

Mitsubishi began as a shipping company.

Lamborghini started as a tractor manufacturer.

3M began as a mining company.

All these business evolved by changing with the times.  Many of their histories include terms like “major setback” or “fierce competition” that explain how the company ended up on a different path than the one they started down.  As the economy, technology and consumer attitudes continue to change and evolve, so must we.  Being able to roll with the punches is the key to longevity.

One of the best business quotes I’ve ever heard is, “Good entrepreneurs delegate.” You can try to be everything for your clients and your business but sometimes it’s hard to do everything and keep your sanity. Depending on the type of business you run and the size of your operation, it might be necessary to hire some additional help to run your horse business.

When making the decision of whether or not to hire employees, look to hire in the areas you’re weakest at. If you love the client interaction and daily chores of running a boarding facility but hate the paperwork, hire an office manager. Stick to what you’re good at and hire people to manage the things you’re not good at.

Once you’ve got a team in place (whether it’s one or 50 employees), it takes constant dedication to keep them motivated, happy and working hard. The most important aspect of employee management, in my experience, is communication. Let your employees know what is going on with the company. Communicate what is expected of them and what will not be accepted. You can do this by holding short meetings, sending emails or even printing a short company newsletter.

Another big part of communication is involving your employees. Ask for their feedback on issues facing your company and any ideas you may have for growth. Knowing their thoughts and ideas are being heard helps them to take ownership of the company and its successes. This can boost morale, which creates the kind of employees that work with you, instead of for you.

Reprimand privately, praise publicly. I’m stealing this one from mega-publisher, Roy Reiman. (I highly recommend Roy’s book, “I Could Write a Book.” It has a bunch of great business and management advice, even if you’re not a magazine publisher. I’ve added a link at the right if you’d like to check it out.) Reiman’s policy on reprimanding employees was to do it quietly, where other employees weren’t able to see. Praise, however, should be delivered publicly. This makes the rewarded employee feel good but also lets others know their good work will be publicly noticed

Finally, one of the best ways I’ve found to manage employees is to lead by example. My mom once told me that managing employees is a lot like raising kids. “You want them to like you but respect you.” It’s hard to respect or like someone who leads with a “do as I do and not as I say” attitude. When you let employees know you abide by the same rules they do, they’ll respect your rules and your leadership much more.

Especially in a down economy, deciding where and how to spend your limited advertising dollars is a tough call.  Knowing your customers is the number one way to effectively choose advertising mediums.  Where are your clients located? Where do they get their information?  What publications and websites do they read?

In addition to understanding your customers, you have to understand the scope of  your business.  If you have a regional equine massage business, you probably don’t want to advertise in a national magazine.  For one, the rates would be much more than what you’d want to spend.  If the magazine reaches 100,000 horse owners, chances are only a small percentage of those live in the area you serve.  On the other hand, if you had an online retail store, that same magazine might work well for you.

Choosing a targeted ad medium is important because that’s how you get the most bang for your buck.  Plus, the average consumer needs to see your ad or message 7 times before they can retain it and associate it with your business.  If you advertise to a broad, general market, you’ll reach more people but it will also cost you a lot more reach your audience 7 times.  Pick a targeted, focused medium and you’ll spend less to create brand awareness with your potential customers.

So when you’re allocating your ad budget, should you look at print or online?  My advice is always both.  I think nowadays it’s very important to have a website.  Even if it’s just a basic site with a sales page and contact information.  You can use a free website builder like Webs.com to set up a basic site.  It doesn’t require you to be a web programmer and is very simple to use.

Once you have a website in place, use the rest of your advertising to drive traffic to your site.  Print advertising is great for building credibility and has been shown to have higher retention rates.  But the down side is it usually costs more.  This is why it’s important to choose targeted publications, as discussed above. When designing your print ad, there are a couple things to remember. 1. Pictures are worth a thousand words, really.  Include a picture of your products.  2. Less is more when it comes to wording.  Remember to direct people to your website and let it do the selling.  If a print ad is too text-heavy, readers have a tendency to skip right over them.

For online advertising, there are a lot of options.  Where to advertise depends on what your particular market is.  Find a website that caters to your location or discipline and see what they offer for advertising.  Some websites offer classifieds at a very affordable rate.  If you sell something in a classified ad, always be sure to include your web address where allowed.  Another popular online advertising option is banner advertising.  Banner ads have images and text and look similar to ads in magazines, only they have a link to your website built in.  If you choose a site with content closely related to your product or service, these can be very effective.

One other form of online advertising that is gaining popularity in the equine industry is Google Adwords. Adwords is a service Google provides that matches keywords and content with relevant sites.  You know when you do a search on Google and the “sponsored links” come up on the right-hand side?  Those are ads from Google Adwords.  Signing up for Adwords is very easy.  You create an account, select keywords and set a monthly budget.  That last one is my favorite feature of Adwords.  You control how much you spend on it, so it’s flexible to change with your business.

After looking at this post it occurs to me I could write several posts on this topic!  I will probably come back and cover each of the above in greater detail later.  I would also like to give more examples of specific places to advertise but since there are literally thousands and I haven’t tried them all I’m looking for feedback.  Where are your favorite places to advertise?