Hi All,
Well, anyone in business right now just might have noticed that we appear to be in the depths of a huge recession, and anyone that has been in business for many years will have experienced similar situations in the past.
For me the most damaging recession was in the early nineties. I was running a completely different kind of service business then and I got hit very hard, having to to lay of 5 of my 7 staff.
So, if you're in business what's the best way to get through a recession? Conserve your resources, i.e., hard cash or is it best to speculate and buy your way out of it?
It's only human to recoil and shed excess baggage when you're in pain but this could be suicidal in business. You still need to make money, in fact even more so, and you still want to be in business when this whole sh*t blows over don't you?
Sure, cutting waste and making savings where possible is the natural thing to do but what many small business owners do is cut their marketing budget, which is just plain crazy! If anything you should increase your marketing to ensure your customers don't forget you and to encourage new customers to buy from you.
Those who stop advertising and stop spending on promoting their products and services will have to compete with a whole new batch of competition later along the line and then they'll know what pain really is...
Having lived through 3 major economic crashes I think I'm pretty clued up as to how to cope with this one. During the downturn of the 80's I stopped spending on marketing and so stopped getting customers and eventually had to close my business.
In the 90's so many of my creditors went bust I found myself up the proverbial creek without a paddle and my bank (NatWest) were firing broadsides at me like they were going out of fashion. Did I give up? No but it was damn hard work trying to stay afloat, let alone steer my way out of trouble. Many events, which affected my business were completely out of my hands then, but I still advertised and I still got work.
Today is a bit different as it seems the whole world is affected in some way, so I guess we're all in the same boat this time, and as this mess was mainly caused by greedy bumbling bankers and incompetent politicians the onus is firmly placed on them to get us out of it.
Okay, I am digressing somewhat. So back to the point in question...
Should we cut back on our marketing and save a few quid or go overboard and splash out like we've just won the lottery? My advice is to don't stop spending on marketing because that's what makes your business live and breath, but during these hard times it neeeds to be approached in a slightly different way. I know money is tight for many small business owners and cash flow is... well... just not flowing as fluidly as we would all hope.
What you need to do now is look at ways in which you can add value to your products and services instead of spending more. Look at my own example with BusyVids...
This year we have changed our output format and now create all videos in High Definition, and for no extra cost to the customer...
We have also increased the length of videos to 3 minutes or more but only made a small increase in price...
And just recently we have added at least 100 free backlinks to each order. These links can be applied to the client's video or to their website, and at no additional cost.
You see, the aim is to create so much value for money that the client will not even consider going anywhere else for their videos. The best part is, it has cost us very little to add this service when compared to the new business we have generated.
So, whatever business you are in right now, don't stop spending on your marketing, and do increase the value of your products or services. It will help you get and retain more customers during these difficult times, and when times do get better they'll still be loyal to you above your competition.
You know it makes sense!
All for now!
Bill
