If you liked 50 Shades Of Grey….

…you may not be the biggest fan of my finance based blog. Not that I would make any assumptions about the readership of the Enterprise Britain or make any judgements as to its literary tastes. It is just that whenever I look in a bookshop now it seems that almost everything is boasting that if I liked 50 Shades Of Grey I would love (insert suitable title here). Maybe it would help if I actually read the damned thing….

I do however read a lot of Scandinavian crime fiction and therefore am used to the comparisons with that Lisbeth Salander trilogy that began with “The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo (although I think they should really say “If you didn’t manage to finish that Stieg Larsson book then you’ll definitely enjoy reading….”).

The desire to make comparisons with the latest hit product, be it in books or music or film, is nothing new. The 50^th anniversary of the release of “Love Me Do” is a reminder of what happened when The Beatles hit the big time. Having suddenly discovered that groups with guitars weren’t actually “on the way out”, record companies rushed out and signed virtually any young band with a six stringed instrument or two. If they hailed from that city on the banks of the River Mersey then so much the better.

Cashing in on the latest big hit is a proven sales driver albeit one with diminishing returns as another new craze or fashion emerges. In many ways it is a sign of laziness. The real talent is identifying that new craze at the right time and riding the wave profitably for a long as possible, while keeping a careful eye out for the next big thing.

Of course in our own businesses we never jump on the latest bandwagon to draw attention to our services do we? Everything we offer is totally original and in no way a copy of a much better product isn’t it?

Clearly we should be working harder on what makes us different rather than pretending to be the same as something that has worked before. If we don’t I guess we we will continue to be greeted with bookshelves groaning with “mummy porn” or “scandi crime” titles while doing our best to find something different and original.

Mind you if you can’t beat them, maybe you have to join them.

“If you liked the way your accountant prepared your statutory accounts and tax computation, then you’ll love the way your part time finance director takes care of all of your business financial management leaving you free to do what you like doing while making more money with less hassle.”

It’s catching isn’t it? Possibly needs a bit of work though…..