Market Your Business or Community like It’s on an Island
Just imagine that small business you run, or your town or community is on a small island, every personal and business interaction that takes place matters, and every visitor and customer you make contact with is to be treasured.

A couple of simple facts are that there are a small finite number of people you’re going to be able to sell to, or impress during their visit with you, and every single person you interact with is going to know everyone else, so it becomes very obvious to you the “Island Dweller,” that you always have to be on your best behavior.

You don’t have the luxury to say, “forget you” and then go on to the next person, and you can’t run advertising that churns and burns through a never ending supply of unknowledgeable market prospects, since remember, you are in the “Island market”, and there is only one chance to make a first impression, and on the “Island,” that impression really matters most.

Consider an airline in Dallas that can greedily bully and have its way with a seemingly endless stream of business travelers, and compare them to short haul carriers in the west that know that passengers can always switch to the other short haul airlines if available, or drive, and what they really know is that the people they serve have leveraged power because there isn’t an endless supply of passengers ready to take the other’s place in line.
As you’ve probably guessed by now, like most things in our ever changing and shrinking world, whether businesses, small towns or communities, you must now market like you are on an island.

The “Island perspective” is the Zappos loyalty business model and relationship marketing, the primary sources of the company’s rapid growth and recent acquisition (Amazon Buys Zappos) resulting in repeat customers and numerous word of mouth recommendations, as every interaction is viewed as both precious and an opportunity to delight the customer.

In today’s Global Economy, it is a fact that marketers no longer have the money or the platform to harass and promote their way to success, and burn their way through the markets, instead, we as Entrepreneurs have to act like we’re on our own “Island” building, earning, and then nurturing the relationships we need to keep, and use to build additional relationships as our network grows beyond our individual “Islands.”

The “Island Marketing” concept recognizes that marketing and customer service are inseparable and transcends the traditionally simple purchase-exchange process with the customer to make more meaningful and richer contact, by providing a more holistic, personalized purchase, and use the consumption experience to create stronger ties and greater value, and validation of the importance to the continuation of the relationship, and the additional benefits of further expanding networks by obtaining the loyalty of suppliers, employees, bankers, customers, distributors, shareholders, stakeholders and the board of directors.

Social networking relationships have become more critical with the development of multi-platforms for social networking, including Twitter and Facebook for easy connecting, developing and maintaining social networking relationships throughout the global economy, and looking at the market through this perspective, previously successful banner ads and multiple pop ups are even less effective than they used to be, along with the incredibly ineffective outsourcing of the random dialing of businesses to do telemarketing spam.

By successfully developing their own “Island Marketing” strategies, Entrepreneurs operating small businesses, towns and communities, will adapt and develop the strong national and global relationships needed to recover and greatly increase survival, and renewed success in the ever-changing global economic markets.