"It's Not What We Do." Why?

I, along with thousands, of others subscribe to the blog by Seth Godin.  This morning Seth points out a problem with saying, "It's not what we do" when it comes to times of change.  As he writes, "Simon & Schuster or the Encyclopedia Britannica could have been Google (organizing the world's information) but they didn't build a search engine because that's not what they do."

It's like when I and two friends, back in 2001, opened up a compact tractor dealership.  We were in the media business.  So why did we do it?  To prove to the world of agriculture that it was possible to sell tractors on-line.  We did sell 12 or 15 within six months but closed the business because it was not what we did. 

You do see the difference between an information business building a search engine and a media business opening a tractor dealership...right?

Sometimes the idea or service is just NOT in your field, not your core business.  Tractors wasn't ours but the encyclopedia folks missed the boat because information is their core.

It's like advertising and marketing.  We don't build anything at Insight Advertisingother than winning advertising and marketing campaigns for our clients.  It's what we do.  I can't tell you how to build a rotary cutter or a hay rake but I sure can market it in ways manufacturers could never dream.  We can't arrange wedding flowers or make wine but we can put more eyes on those products than what the designers or wine makers can.

It's what we do...

Sometimes companies who continue to "try" marketing on their own need to stand back and say, "Advertising...it's not what we do.  Wonder who does?"

Thanks for reading and you can keep up with us on Twitter, @MichaelLibbie or @InsightADV.