Insider: What Was Old Is New Again

Remember the milkman? Well, he’s back. Manhattan Milk delivers fresh, certified organic milk in glass bottles from Pennsylvania Amish farms for a nominal fee ($5, with a minimum $15 order) to any address in Manhattan. He even picks up the empties on the next delivery for reuse.

How’s that for a concept? Old-fashioned service to your door with a high-quality, fresh product. Sounds like some great, old ideas are starting to make a comeback.

Does this spark memories of when you were starting out in the business? What were things you did then that brought you customers and the first resemblance of success? What did it take for you to get to where you are today?

What do you think of a company staking its survival on old-fashioned concepts? Do you see your old business model and marketing ideas as being viable for today’s consumer?

It very well could be. At the risk of sounding trite: Nothing ventured, nothing gained. Is there some sort of rule that says you can’t go back to the former strategies and the different ways you promoted your business? It all could very well look old, but in fact, it’s an action and may be more than what you’re doing now. It may even appear to be a brand-new strategy to others.

Many of these ideas include the old grassroots efforts that hold tremendous opportunity. They represent a wealthy bank of unused or underused assets waiting to be leveraged. Old ideas are filled with amazing treasures that can be mined if you put yourself in the right mind-set. Old ideas represent a major investment in our lives — most likely resources like time and capital. Beyond the costs, those ideas represent a treasury of knowledge, perspective, creativity, skills and capability.

To retrieve that knowledge, you need to ask yourself: What were the things that I did to promote my business when I first started? Did I go door-to-door with fliers? Did I advertise in community newspapers? Did I do mailers? Did I use a referral program? Did I network? If you really put an effort to it, you’ll realize that you probably have a million great ideas.

Whether you believe new ideas about old ideas are hard to come by, or you always seem to have more than you can use, your ideas can get better. With every old and new idea, creativity will yield your business a competitive advantage.

Earl Rivard is the president of marketing for First United Door Technologies, a Tempe, Ariz.-based manufacturer of residential and commercial doors. To reach him, call 866.366.7636. For more information on First United, visit www.firstudt.com.