The Picture the Media Don't Want You to See!

I’ve just had one of the best days out I can remember.

In a last minute “it’s Sunday, what should we do with our 3 year-old” kind of a way my wife, Julie remembered that a town near us plays host to one of the biggest Air Shows in the UK. 

We know the area fairly well and so decided to avoid the obvious routes and took the back lanes only us locals know about.  We parked up in a 100 yards from the entrance and marvelled at the queues coming in from the main roads.

It was amazing.

I never knew you could do a loop in a helicopter or land just the tail wheel on the runway, spin it around on its axis and then roll backwards.  It was a day packed with a combination of breathtaking and terrifying moments but the highlight for me was the Red Arrows (see picture).  We arranged to spend a few moments chatting to them – extraordinary.  A very calm bunch but then you’d need to be travelling at 250mph 20 feet from your neighbour whilst doing heart-stopping aerobatics.

(The Red Arrows in perfect formation)

However, while we were having a wonderful time hobnobbing with the Red Arrows and sitting in Chinooks some more unfortunates were stuck in a 10 mile tail back on the M54 with the police eventually turning people away from joining the slip road queue (tickets or not).  Some were stuck in an A road tail back so long it joined two towns together.  Meanwhile, more than 58,000 of the rest of us were watching the skies in awe.  Here’s the proof!

(58,000 people enjoying the view)

You see that despite the media’s claim we’re all doomed, I see a rather different picture:  I see an event which netted millions of pounds in a day.  I see people very happy to spend £70, £80, £100 on a day out, so many, in fact, they couldn’t all get in.  I see money flowing freely from people happy to exchange it for great value.  This is not the picture of the recession the media want you to see.

And key to our success in hard times is understanding this very important point:  Money does not disappear it simply moves somewhere else.  The trick to being successful is following where the money is going.  I’ll give you an example…

On a BBC programme the other evening was a piece about a local manufacturing business in the Midlands who were having a hard time.  They were on the brink of closing, staff were on a 3-day week and all because the car industry is cutting back.  So I went to their website and guess what?  They work in lots of areas, aerospace, medical, industrial.  The question you ask is, given the volatile nature of the car industry, why didn’t they follow the money and grow their money in other areas so they could cope loosing a revenue stream?  Beats me.  (Beats me also why they didn’t also put something on their website about being featured on National TV, but that’s another story – one about not capitalising on PR!)

There is simply no better medium than the Internet for testing, exploring and growing new market places for your business.

Diversity is key.  Creating sustaining Joint Ventures is key.  Testing new revenue streams is key.  Using your website to help you achieve this is key.

The money is there, but it may have moved, follow it.

Thank you, my rant is over!

Hope you enjoy the pictures from the day.