Recession Marketing

I thought you might enjoy the following Q&A that I provided to a national publication writing about how small business owners can succeed in a recession.

1. What tips can you provide for organizations looking to maximize their marketing budgets?
Focus, focus, focus. The biggest problem right now is that people are spreading their marketing efforts too thin. It is much better to call one warm prospect than to send a cold mailing to 1,000 people from a database. Focus your efforts on the most profitable and likely prospects.

2. What brand building techniques do you recommend during a recession?
In a bad economy, people only pay for things that solve immediate, serious needs. Take a look at your marketing messages and determine whether they address such a need. Think in terms of Emergency Care vs. Prevention. Long-term marketing messages simply aren't selling right now, so you need to dig deep into the "pain" your customers feel and tell them how you can help.

3. Are there marketing activities you have increased as a result of the recession? If yes, can you provide an example?
I'm offering more workshops and short-term projects that deal with specific problems (per the above answer - long term strategy just isn't as attractive right now).

4. Are there specific campaign examples or strategies that have worked particularly well despite the recession?
My marketing business has actually grown in the past six months, and my pipeline is full. I think it's because I saw the consumer mentality changing and applied what I said in numbers 1 and 2 to my own company.

3 Things to Do For Your Business Today

It's hard not to notice all of the negative information in the world right now about how businesses are faring in this economy, but despite it all, as small business owners, we have an amazing opportunity to flourish regardless of the external conditions. This is because most small businesses are held back not by the market, but by the owner. Shocking, I know!

The truth is, it's much easier to blame the economy, our customers, our employees, and almost anything else when we don't succeed in our businesses than it is to look in the mirror and realize that we are at the helm, and we have a great deal of control over our businesses' fate.

Here are three things that you can do today to begin steering your business in a powerful direction:

1. Get Uncomfortable: most of us have one thing that makes us more uncomfortable than anything else; for many of us it's "cold calls." Yet the single most valuable thing that most business owners can do when they need more business is to pick up the phone and start making phone calls. Get a list of prospects together, sit down, and commit to making 5, 10, 50, 100 calls - whatever you think you can do - each week. Just make them!

2. Ask For Input: when running a business, we wear multiple hats. These "hats" often have a constant internal dialogue that maintains our everyday business operations. The trouble is, our "hats" often forget to ask for outside opinions and insight. As a result, we can easily become disconnected from our customers, our employees, suppliers, and critical advisers who can provide valuable insight. Put on just one hat today: curiosity. Wear it to ask everyone you encounter three simple questions: 1) what do you think is going well with the business?; 2) what do you think needs improvement?; 3) do you have any ideas for what we should be doing?

3. Collect on Invoices: while the above two recommendations are about your personal behavior, this one is simply practical. It is a fact that businesses are shutting down, and you don't want to be left holding the check if your customers go out of business. Reduce your billing cycles, and require COD whenever possible. Collect on all outstanding invoices to limit your exposure and ensure steady cash flow.

What It Takes To Survive a Recession

The National Bureau of Economic Research, the country's business cycle arbiter, officially declared last month that the United States has been in a recession since December 2007.

Before you get caught up in the doom and gloom, though, remember that a recession doesn't mean your business has to decrease. It does have to change, though. Here are some ideas for surviving, and even thriving in the current economy:

1. Do not cut back on critical expenses that maintain your product's quality; do cut back on any manufacturing or production expenses that do not directly relate to the quality of the end product.

2. Do not panic and stop all marketing activities; do cut back on those that have no proven rate of return. There are hundreds of low- and no-cost marketing activities that can replace almost all of your current marketing expenses.

3. Do increase employee incentive and work-for-performance (i.e. commission) programs. You may not be able to give raises this year; instead, provide cash incentives to reward the behavior that you need right now, such as new business prospects, rate of production, etc.

4. Do reward loyal customers, and thank those that refer more business to you by giving them discounts or even just a "Thank You" card.

5. Do focus on the products that are most profitable - constantly improve on them and dedicate more marketing investment to them. Do not try to save a product that has not been working for you or launch a new product unless you have conducted extensive market research to ensure that it will make money. Now is not a time for random risk-taking.