Have you ever heard or said either of these excuses?

“We’re so lean we don’t have the budget”

or

“You understand, we’re behind on our targets, so we don’t have any more budget”

 I think it’s highly unlikely you haven’t either of these somewhere, sometime in the recent past, right?

Small versus Big

Funny thing

about being in a tight spot, people tend to like to believe the other side of the hill is always better. If you work in a large company, you rue the agility and entrepreneurship of the small company. On the other hand, small companies can be jealous of the big budgets and prestige associated with big corporations and brands. However, it is my observation that many small businesses are just like big businesses in one unlikely way: they both lack resources.

Big business is faced with its history, incumbent heavy systems and processes, and inefficiencies such as internal politics and siloed departments. Even if the existing budget appears large, in practice there are too many rigidities that leave the marginal resources squeezed.  Despite years of cost cutting and downsizing, big businesses continue to struggle to get the resources necessary to adapt to the new environment.  Part of the challenge is having to anniversary past year figures, which ups the ante (and risks) when betting on new fangled technologies, like social media.

Small business is, typically, squeezed by virtue of its size, in the shape of lesser buying power, limited access to financing, etc. A second issue for small business is the premium on having the right people, because certain skills or expertises cannot be conjured up.  With small teams, you cannot afford to have the wrong members.

For both big and small company alike, the inability to come up with resources and, importantly, an asset reallocation to shift into digital marketing is only impeded more commonly by a lack of the right myndset.

Chasing loose change, not real change

There is one other common point that both small and big companies share: a lack of a profound understanding of why they are in business: their mission.  With a mission, a better and richer story can unfold.  Without it, we’re just running around chasing loose change as opposed to real change.

Your thoughts and reactions as always welcome!