Three Crucial Reminders for Outlasting the Recession
Are you walking around with gloom and doom in your head?
If so, put all the recession talk aside and take a walk
down Main Street. Do you see people carrying shopping bags?
Going into restaurants? Using cell phones?
You see, life goes on. Business goes on. Customers still
need you. Yes, they may be more cautious about spending.
Some may be in financial trouble. But if you keep your head
on straight, you'll ride out the recession just fine.
Three Fundamental Principles of Marketing to Remember
1. Mine your customer list. Whether the economy is up or
down, it costs five times as much to obtain a new customer
as it does to sell more to an existing one. So treat
current customers as gold, and make sure they know about
everything you offer.
2. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Marketing succeeds with
repetition. Do not try to economize by cutting the
frequency of your marketing outreach. According to a study
by the American Business Press, in past recessions
companies that maintained their advertising had increased
their sales four times more two years later than companies
that had cut their advertising because of the economic
downturn.
3.Stop marketing, and you soon won't have a business. I
once asked a client of mine who closed down her business to
retire how long it took after she halted all of her
marketing before the calls stopped. Six months, she said.
Too often I've seen consultants become complacent about how
well word of mouth was working for them. One day they'd
wake up and realize referrals had dried up, and they'd have
to begin creating a marketing pipeline, which might not
start yielding new clients for months. In both good times
and bad, you must market to keep sales humming.
Extrapolating from the above principles, you can understand
why it is a huge mistake to cancel all your advertising,
pull in on your marketing expenses and stop spending on
customer outreach. Instead, continue all the marketing
efforts that worked in the past. Revive those that
previously worked but you stopped because you got tired of
them. And think about ways to tweak your marketing
messages so they appear especially relevant to those
suffering from the economic downturn.
Make sure clients are happy with your products and services
and fix any quality issues. Consider reasons why, in good
times, people remain on the fence about buying from you,
and take away those doubts and objections. It's also a
great time to join forces with other business owners to
share ideas on how all of you can remain
recession-resistant.
To paraphrase a famous saying of Eleanor Roosevelt,
"Nothing can pull your business down without your consent."
You have a choice about what attitude and actions to take.
If you refuse to adopt the mindset of those running around
right now like Chicken Littles, you will be able to look
back on the era of gloom and doom with a smile on your face
and a big bankroll in your pocket.
The above is excerpted from my report, "33 Keys to Thriving
During a Recession," which is available as a free download from
www.yudkin.com/recess.htm . Not only is no opt-in required,
you are invited to pass the report around to your clients,
customers, friends, relatives - anyone who needs a boost.
Marcia Yudkin
If so, put all the recession talk aside and take a walk
down Main Street. Do you see people carrying shopping bags?
Going into restaurants? Using cell phones?
You see, life goes on. Business goes on. Customers still
need you. Yes, they may be more cautious about spending.
Some may be in financial trouble. But if you keep your head
on straight, you'll ride out the recession just fine.
Three Fundamental Principles of Marketing to Remember
1. Mine your customer list. Whether the economy is up or
down, it costs five times as much to obtain a new customer
as it does to sell more to an existing one. So treat
current customers as gold, and make sure they know about
everything you offer.
2. Repeat, repeat, repeat. Marketing succeeds with
repetition. Do not try to economize by cutting the
frequency of your marketing outreach. According to a study
by the American Business Press, in past recessions
companies that maintained their advertising had increased
their sales four times more two years later than companies
that had cut their advertising because of the economic
downturn.
3.Stop marketing, and you soon won't have a business. I
once asked a client of mine who closed down her business to
retire how long it took after she halted all of her
marketing before the calls stopped. Six months, she said.
Too often I've seen consultants become complacent about how
well word of mouth was working for them. One day they'd
wake up and realize referrals had dried up, and they'd have
to begin creating a marketing pipeline, which might not
start yielding new clients for months. In both good times
and bad, you must market to keep sales humming.
Extrapolating from the above principles, you can understand
why it is a huge mistake to cancel all your advertising,
pull in on your marketing expenses and stop spending on
customer outreach. Instead, continue all the marketing
efforts that worked in the past. Revive those that
previously worked but you stopped because you got tired of
them. And think about ways to tweak your marketing
messages so they appear especially relevant to those
suffering from the economic downturn.
Make sure clients are happy with your products and services
and fix any quality issues. Consider reasons why, in good
times, people remain on the fence about buying from you,
and take away those doubts and objections. It's also a
great time to join forces with other business owners to
share ideas on how all of you can remain
recession-resistant.
To paraphrase a famous saying of Eleanor Roosevelt,
"Nothing can pull your business down without your consent."
You have a choice about what attitude and actions to take.
If you refuse to adopt the mindset of those running around
right now like Chicken Littles, you will be able to look
back on the era of gloom and doom with a smile on your face
and a big bankroll in your pocket.
The above is excerpted from my report, "33 Keys to Thriving
During a Recession," which is available as a free download from
www.yudkin.com/recess.htm . Not only is no opt-in required,
you are invited to pass the report around to your clients,
customers, friends, relatives - anyone who needs a boost.
Marcia Yudkin