Free Marketing: 101 Low and No-Cost Ways to Grow Your Business, Online and Off

CHAPTER 92

USE LEVERAGE TO GROW YOUR BRAND FAST

Leverage is a simple concept to me.

By choosing the right tool for the job you can apply the smallest amount of effort in the shortest amount of time and get the greatest possible results.

Understanding and applying the concept of leverage is more important now than perhaps at any point in business history. I make this statement for several reasons, including the fact that change is occurring more rapidly than at any other point, and innumerable new tools are being introduced continually. If you don't remain a student of leverage, you can be left behind quickly.

To illustrate my point with a construction analogy, imagine if the tools of home construction were changing as rapidly as are the tools of social media connection, information sharing, and content distribution. In my illustration, hardware stores would be completely changing their entire inventory of tools and replacing them with better, faster, and cheaper tools almost monthly. New stores would be opening and closing rapidly. What worked last year would stop working suddenly and homebuilders would become increasingly reliant on trusted advisers to help them navigate their options. The homebuilders that chose to ignore these trends would find it nearly impossible to produce a competitive product as a result. I'm sure those in the housing industry would agree that some version of what I've just said is already true, but by choosing to participate in the information economy ...