Knowing what you stand for-Creating a Corporate Strategy

This past weekend I was able to attend one of the most incredible experiences of my life: the Outdoor Retailer Trade Show. The event is a must-attend for every outdoor specialty company from The North Face, Black Diamond, and Keen to Columbia, Patagonia, and Clif Bar. And thousands more exhibit their goods "to provide your company the most cost/time efficient means of connecting with outdoor specialty retailers, manufacturers, and the media for unmatched selling opportunities and exposure"(1).

My purpose of attending was in order to secure sponsorship for my very own outdoor company, Rhino Challenge, which organizes extreme relay races for teams of 6. I talked to everyone in the industry including big name brands and startup companies. Among the startups I became aware of an obvious separator between those that I believe will penetrate the industry and those that will not. That differentiator is a defined Strategy Statement.

I seek sponsorship companies with whom I can develop a synergistic relationship in which our objectives and audiences merge. My method was to become familiar with the owners and their company by asking them about their target market, their key business goals and motivations, and most importantly the vision of their company. I was surprised by the direction that many of the startups lacked. They were happy to be taken wherever their consumers took them. One of my favorite Henry Kissinger quotes "If you don't know where you are going, every road will get you nowhere" describes the dangers of engaging in a business without a strategy.

The company with which I was most impressed was the Geigerrig. They have created an innovative hydration pack system that listens to the needs of the consumer as well as created a clearly defined strategy as to what they are and what they are not. The have engaged in a business with a clear product offering and corporate direction going forward. I truly believe they will penetrate the hydration pack system by finally offering a "convenient way to hydrate during outdoor activity"(2).

1. http://www.outdoorretailer.com/info/about-us
2. http://www.geigerrig.com/product-benefits/spray-to-drink.html

New Profit Pool for Mobile Carriers

It's no secret that mobile carriers make pennies on the dollar to provide the public with cellular service, the biggest profits come from the add-ons that everyone buys: the premiums for unlimited coverage, insurance, cell phone covers, you name it. And we buy it from them because we like the extra service or the convenience. Profit pools are created by bringing customers in with a low margin product in order to get them to buy a product with a high margin. It's the way businesses often work!

As our increasingly compulsive need to "always be on our cell phone at all times" has increased, so has government regulation on dangerous cell phone usage. I don't think I make it more than a week at a time without hearing a tragic story about a foolish individual crashing while driving and texting. In many states it has become illegal to talk or text on the phone while driving.

People can't seem to be disciplined enough to drop cell usage while driving. Therefore, several cell phone carriers are coming out with the option to add a new service for $4.99/month that automatically jams your cell phone while you drive. That's right, we are going to pay a mobile carrier $5 a month to turn our phone off.

The technology isn't anything new; however, the profit pool is. You can be certain that the mobile carriers will be trying to get as much mileage as they can out of the positive "socially responsible" media coverage that this new service will produce. But don't be fooled, the potential profits are what motivate these carriers to put together this new service. Nonetheless, kudos to them for innovatively finding a new profit pool!