What If There Was a Recession And No One Came?
3 Tips to Increase Your Biz Right
Now
by Michele Pariza Wacek
If you remember nothing else in
this article, remember this: even during the great depression, people still
bought things. And not just food and necessities -- lipstick and entertainment
were hot sellers. (In fact, that's where the cosmetic industry got its start.)
Why am I starting here? Because I know it's easy to get caught up in a cycle
of negativity right now but if you want to succeed you absolutely MUST rise
above it. People are still going to buy no matter what the economy is doing.
It's YOUR job to position your products and services as the ones they buy.
So how do you do that? Here are three tips to get you started.
1. Dance with the one who brought you. In other words, now is not the time to
abandon the marketing strategies and tactics that got you here. A lot of
business owners will be tempted to cut back, especially their marketing. This is
a mistake. If anything, you should increase your marketing now.
However, by increasing your marketing I don't necessarily mean increasing how
much you spend. It's perfectly acceptable to find low-cost or no-cost marketing
methods to still keep the momentum going. One word of warning -- there's no such
thing as a free lunch. Chances are you're going to pay somewhere, and that
payment could very well be your time. Before you rush into doing something you
end up regretting, take a hard look at the real cost. Would you be better off
doing something that might cost more but doesn't suck up time you could be using
to make money?
Here are some tactics you can do right now to increase your exposure without
necessarily costing you much (if anything):
a. Start an email newsletter, or if you already publish one, increase the
frequency you send it out. (Weekly is best. The more often your list hears from
you, the more responsive they'll become.)
b. Hold a free teleclass. Make sure you come up with a really great special
offer to turn your listeners into customers.
c. Go buy a new dress and hang out on the social networking scene. Okay, I'm
kidding about the dress. But if you aren't making the
social networking rounds,
you're missing major business opportunities. No it's not a waste of time (unless
you let it become one).
2. Do a little marketing each day. I know. Marketing isn't your "thing." Why
would you want to do something each day? But the reality is successful
businesses are built upon small marketing steps consistently done, not
necessarily the big launch.
So what can you do today? Write your article for your newsletter? Contact a
potential joint venture partner? Write a thank you note to someone who sent you
a referral? Do something, even if it's only a 15-minute task, and you'll
probably be amazed at how fast you'll start seeing results.
3. Systemize your marketing tasks. If you're like a lot of service
professionals, when business is slow, you jump in feet first and do a whole
bunch of marketing. Things pick up, you get busy, and the marketing stops.
Eventually the work also stops because you stopped the marketing and you're
sucked into the feast-famine vortex.
So, rather then repeat that cycle, why not do something a little different
this time around? This time, while you're frantically marketing and looking
under every stone for work, why don't you also systemize your marketing? Write
down everything you do, so when you're busy, you can hand that list off to a
virtual assistant who can keep your marketing going for you? Now maybe you won't
eliminate that feast-or-famine cycle but you'll definitely soften it.
To sum it up, if business is slow right now and you're nervous about the
economy, I want you to take a deep breath and STOP IT. Use this time to
transform how you handle your marketing in your business, which will transform
your business.
Michele PW (Michele Pariza Wacek) is your Ka-Ching!
marketing strategist and owns Creative Concepts and Copywriting LLC, a
copywriting and marketing agency. She helps entrepreneurs become more
successful at attracting more clients, selling more products and services
and boosting their business. Visit her site at
http://www.MichelePW.com |
