What’s more important for your company, growth that is stimulated internally or externally? Which is more Organic? More Sustainable?
The answer is that both are equally important, and quite dependent upon each other. Internal (proactive and reactive) actions by your team must intertwine and hopefully spawn and tune external factors that match your growth goals.
Externally stimulated growth, where the market is coming to you, is when the outside world has significant impact on your message, your “buzz” increases as well as your message hitting where you want it to. Viral growth. Can’t be stopped (for now).
External growth is more exciting, also more difficult and more expensive, but can be quite rewarding. Expensive means using precious cash, which most startups are very reluctant to do. On the other hand, if well placed promo dollars (internal) cause external market to take off on it’s own, it may be worth it.
Internally stimulated growth is all the things you do, inorganic, synthesized. A strong internal growth plan focuses on coordinated, timed, manipulated maneuvers, paying for press releases, making sales priority 1. Internal growth is safer and controllable but limited in it’s effect without your message catching on externally. Old school internal growth strategies are still vital to the plan: marketing, advertising, marcom, sales, work ethic, camaraderie, common vision, right attitudes, belief in the leader. All of these things help you to be prepared for external spark when it happens.
But External growth is harder to synthesize, unless you’re Steve Jobs. Stimulation can come from many places – the momentum of the market, outbound marketing, results from outbound marketing, all trying to create this external alchemy.
The best channel these days for external pop is Instant Social Media. Instant Social Media can make your message travel very rapidly to giant volumes of people, into the highest levels of the market, for little money and hassle, viral marketing. For more see my Instant Social Media blog entry.
The key to all this is to challenge yourself for the best in both areas. Please contact me if you want to discuss your situation and plans.