Virtually all businesses are experiencing the same economic issues right now, whether directly through cancelled contracts, lowered gross income, and even layoffs, or through personal relationships, customers, and acquaintances experiencing difficulties.
“How am I going to survive the next few months… much less the upcoming years??” is something that many people have been asking me.
In my opinion, this is how it is: if you’ve made marketing an expense during the past by not tracking your return on investment, and not keeping in touch with customers and building personal, 1-on-1 relationships with every purchaser and client, it’s going to be difficult to attain/maintain your previous expectations of success.
A shakedown is happening
Frivilous advertising tactics are exposed like mud spots in sheeps wool during an economic recession; everything that doesn’t work and shouldn’t be pursued becomes 10x more obvious.
Now you’re taking a second look at every dollar that’s spent, and probably declining offers that you used to jump for.
It’s not your fault though. All business owners get sold into advertising with high expectations, only to (more often than not) come through the ordeal with a hole in the budget and the same number of customers as before.
A friend and I were recently talking about how restaurants can often take their customers and natural foot-traffic for granted. People show up, they eat, they pay, and they leave. The business owners will do various levels of marketing and advertising depending on their abilities, knowledge, and interest in the topics… but now, in the current economic decline… what used to be a novel, sometimes disliked practice is a necessity for survival.
Let’s put it this way: all businesses suddenly have to think like insurance salesmen.
The marketing strategy of the successful insurance salesmen should be emulated by other businesses if they want to thrive.
People selling things that you’re not shopping for every day make an extra effort to know you and convince you their product/service is worthwhile.
Beyond that, they are very personal. You’ll often receive letters of thanks, updates on your accounts, birthday cards, and other messages throughout the year. In order for these communications to occur, they keep up-to-date contact information on every client; name, home address, and often e-mail addresses.
I could expand on the theme further, but you get the idea: extra effort is required to gain new customers, and you must follow through by staying in touch with them, even getting to know them on a semi-personal level.
The good news for you is these strategies can be automated and handled for you. Many times you won’t even have to lift a finger. (This does include having a website, but that’s just the beginning.)
Businesses that put off the numerous marketing techniques available to them are more likely to be hurting right now. If you’re one of those who jumped in the game early and have made an effort to keep up, there are ways to move higher, effortlessly, because of your previous investment.
But what if you haven’t started? What if you don’t have a customer contact list that includes mailing addresses and email addresses? What if you don’t have a semi-decent website that attracts leads from the internet?
These basic, modern forms of marketing are no longer conveniences, they’re imperative. And starting now is better than not starting at all because they really are the best and easiest way to make sure you’re around for 2010.
To learn more about developing a marketing strategy that will keep your business alive in this economy, contact the Gainesville Marketing Group today.