Butterflies

Effective marketing strategy

Butterflies go through four life stages, and they look very different at each stage. In fact, if you didn't know that they were the same creature........

The question is how do companies and butterflies compare?

Really in more ways than at first seems obvious.

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A company's inception takes energy, engagement and enterprise much like the creation of the egg of the butterfly.

The egg has lots of promise and at this stage of its life so do many companies - but not all survive, like the eggs they fail to prosper in the open environment in which they have been laid. They need parents who have given them the right protection to survive - well camouflaged on their leaf. An interesting observation is that, like companies the shape of butterfly eggs is remarkably variable.

If a company survives the formative stage then it grows and emerges from the egg to become a caterpillar. This is a process that that changes it out all recognition.

A caterpillar is an eating machine. It needs to grow to move on to the next stage so it needs to eat - companies at this stage need cash and as a different form the dangers in the environment change too, just like the situation for the butterfly.Now comes the really difficult bit - the time that it seems like you have to go back to go forward. Becoming a chrysalis or a pupa is an act of consolidation for the butterfly that will allow it to fulfil its destiny, but it is remarkably dangerous as massive changes take place to its structure and during this phase it has absolutely no protection from predators.

Sound familiar?

Then there is the butterfly. But to become a butterfly the creature must leave behind its case. Companies have similar 'decisions' to make about people, products and many other actors.

The real point is that massive change is the normal order of things and for a company to be successful it has to understand this and know how to deal with its changing environment and its changing status. Companies need to know how to survive those changes and how to prosper from them.

This requires proper concentration on marketing - the wide range of activities involved in making sure that you're continuing to meet the needs of your customers and are getting value in return. It also requires concentration on people and relationships within the business.

E-CRM is experienced in taking companies from egg to butterfly. Call us to find out more.