Bad economic news doesn't have to be bad news for your small
business. Your business can thrive and grow in a slowing
economy if you make it recession-proof. Here are 3 things
you can do immediately to start recession-proofing your
business.
GET MORE FOR YOUR ADVERTISING EXPENSE
The return on your advertising expense will shrink during
bad economic times unless you take specific actions to
prevent it. Look for ways to keep your sales volume growing
without increasing your advertising expense. For example:
Negotiate Price With Advertisers
Advertisers are hit hard during an economic slump. Many are
willing to negotiate a special discount to keep your
business or to get it away from their competitors. Take
the initiative when you're placing an ad. Ask for a discount
..or a bigger discount than one already offered.
Trim Your Ads
Reduce the size of your ads so you can run more ads without
increasing your total cost. Don't be surprised if some of
your short ads generate a bigger response than your long
ads. The most effective ad I ever used was only 11 words.
Generate Free Publicity
Start a publicity program for your business...or expand the
one you already have. Publicity produces sales for a much
lower cost then advertising. For example, find something
newsworthy about your business. Write about it in a news
release and distribute it to publishers.
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF YOUR EXISTING CUSTOMERS
Your customers already know you and trust you. It's easier
and cheaper to get more business from them than to get any
business from new prospects. Here are 2 ways to use your
relationship with customers to generate additional business.
1. Offer Them Related Products Or Services
Find or create additional products and services you can
offer to existing customers (and to new prospects). Your new
products or services should be closely related to those your
customers originally bought from you.
For example, I recently spoke with a network marketer
selling nutritional products. She also works with a health
club that pays her a commission for each new member she
signs up. Over one third of her income is generated by
offering the related product to her customers.
2. Ask Them To Help You Find New Customers
Ask your customers for referrals. Reward them for each
referral that becomes a customer. Your reward could be a
discount on their next order or a special bonus item.
Announce your referral program to customers with low cost
communication tools like email, postcards or personal phone
calls.
OFFER SOME "BIG TICKET" ITEMS
Some of your potential customers are not affected by a poor
economy or they benefit from it. Others may place a
higher value on your products or services when the economy
is bad. These prospects are willing spend much more with you
than your average customer. Don't forfeit this income. Find
or create additional products or services similar to those
you now offer...but with a much higher price.
For example, one online marketer recently packaged her
latest "how to" book with several eBooks and a "members
only" website. She priced this special package about 8 times
more than the average size order placed by her customers.
Her number of sales declined when the economy slowed down.
But her sales volume and net profit are still growing. The
dollars produced by a small number of these "big ticket"
sales more than replaced the dollars she lost because of
fewer average size sales.
Your business can thrive and grow during an economic
slowdown if you make it recession-proof. Use these 3 proven
marketing tactics to start recession-proofing your business.
About the Author
Bob Leduc retired from a 30 year career of recruiting sales
personnel and developing sales leads. ob recently wrote a manual for small business
owners titled "How to Build Your Small Business Fast With
Simple Postcards" and several other publications to help
small businesses grow and prosper. For more information...
mailto:BobLeduc@aol.com'subjectPostcards
Phone: (702) 658-1707 (After 10 AM Pacific time)