Ninety-Four One Hundreds of a Second...

That's all that separated Gold from Silver in the Ladies Super Combined Ski in the Vancouver Olympics.

Less than a second made the difference between being first and second. I'm sure some Olympic contests were even tighter this year. Like the .34 of a second that separated bronze from fourth place in the same race.

The Olympics are a great analogy for marketing. You win or you lose. And the difference between the two is sometimes incredibly narrow.

What makes one business more successful than the competition? It's often a series of small differences that adds up to one big one.

A successful athlete knows his or her competitive advantage and makes the most of it. They practice what they need to grow and push the limits where they excel.

To paraphrase one of the athletes I saw interviewed: "That's sports. Outside influences can work against you. You just need to do everything in your power to win."

Takeaway: What's your competitive advantage? What are you doing to promote it? Is it in your ads? Your literature? Your press releases? Your on-hold message? What more can you do? Make every second count.

Marketing Leap

As I watched the Winter Olympics last night I found a common thread between the skaters and snowboarders: the more time they spent airborne the more they scored.

The more time an athlete spends in air means more landings -- and the more chances to fall. It's a big risk with a big reward.

The same is true for Marketing. Some marketing strategies require that you take a big leap. The bigger the risk, the greater the potential reward.

It may be the cash investment in a new ad campaign. Or the time investment to oversee a website overhaul. Or the risk of changing your marketing message.

But doing what everyone else is doing won't get your noticed in business anymore than it will in the Olympics.  No pain, no gain as they say.

If it was easy, everyone would do it.

Takeaway:  What do you need to do to get to the next level in your business? Are you willing to take the leap?