Hunkering Down During Bad Economic Times

The New Year celebrations are over, and 2009 has officially started. All the economic news indicates that the current global recession will continue during 2009. People have been losing their jobs, homes, and incomes since mid-2007.


Many large and small businesses are also closing their doors or are reducing their operation and their workforce. During difficult economic times, business owners are looking to:


Reducing Costs and Increasing Revenue


The first step in cost reduction strategies for many small businesses is cutting their marketing and advertising budgets. As long as people who run the business have a well-defined business model that deals with economic fluctuations and have a clear understanding of their customer needs and their competitors’ activities, this strategy seems to make sense.


Many business owners are waiting for better economic news to restart spending on their marketing and advertising. How long the economic crises will last is a question that nobody can answer clearly.


So what should a business do?


1. Start Networking

2. Start Email Marketing

3. Issue Press Releases

4. Improve its Website

5. Survey its Customers

6. Improve Website Articles


Start Networking – Join your industry association and be an active member of your new network. Networking is one of the best and strongest tools to build bonding with your new clients and potential business partner or associate. There are many local meetings that you can join for free. You can start by looking at


http://www.meetup.com/


Start Email Marketing – Try to send emails to your old customers who have consented to receive emails. Talk about your promotions and industry news. You should also have a section on your website (if you have one) that allows visitors to insert their emails for newsletter request (opt-in). There are many companies that offer email marketing tools for a free trial (at least for one or two months), such as


http://www.constantcontact.com


Press Releases – Try to write press releases about your company, services, and products. Press Release is a media resource for many radios, televisions, and newspapers. You can publish your press release for free at


http://www.prweb.com/


Improve Website – Look at your website and just answer this question:

Is your current website presenting your company’s business model?

If the answer is No, start writing about your business model and what you can do for your customers. Be clear about what you do and what you want to do. Try to answer the customers’ questions. If you do have difficulty with writing, hire a copywriter. If you are looking for free articles that match your business model, check out


http://www.articlegeek.com/


Survey Your Customer - You will be amazed at how other people view your business after evaluating your first survey. Survey questions should be simple and easy to understand. The subject of the survey can be a series of questions and answers or multiple choice answers. Usually, the question is what customers think of your business. There are many companies that allow you to have a free survey for your service or products as long as you have your customers’ email addresses. You can start surveying for free using


http://freeonlinesurveys.com/


Improve Website Articles - Writing articles about what you do know is a great way to gain recognition as an expert in your field or specific industry. There are many local or industrial magazines that are looking to have a practical article. Start writing about your field of expertise. You can also start a blog and allow others to join your blog to write and exchange information. You can have a free blog at


http://www.blogger.com/.


According to Jan Wellborn-Nichols:


“Marketing is everything you do to place your product or service in the hands of potential customers.”


Let’s hope for better economic news in 2009!


https://www.searchengineprojects.com/

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