Turn on the tube, the radio or go online. If you believe what you hear, the world is coming to an end. The experts talk about the recession, a world financial crisis and even talk of a depression! Don't let it get you down. There is still plenty of business out there, in fact more than enough. You don't need everybody - you never have. You just need enough business to survive. So don't let all the negative talk break your spirit. Just focus on your business. Here are some survival techniques:
1) Keep marketing. Yeah, I know that it's scary to spend money now, but to get people to buy, you need to be aggressive with your marketing, now more then ever. This is NOT the time to cut back, even though you may be tempted to. In a down economy the LAST place to cut back is with your marketing. In fact, since most of your competitors will cut their budgets, when things turn around, you'll be ahead of the crowd. Once again, you need to focus on your business and on what it's going to take to make it successful. The only way to attract more business is to keep marketing.
2) Start doing your marketing right by using our marketing equation. Every ad should have these four elements: Interrupt, Engage, Educate, and Offer. Here's a brief explanation of how to do this:
Interrupt: No matter what the format of your ad, whether it be print, audio, video, or online, there should be a headline that gets the prospect to stop and take notice. Your headline makes them realize that valuable information is coming.
Engage: This is another headline that makes the prospect realize that if they keep reading they will get the solution to a problem or opportunity.
Educate: This is pretty self-explanatory, but I'll explain it anyway. This is a paragraph or more that explains to the prospect, or educates them, about your product or service and why this is the solution to their problem or opportunity. You need to educate the prospect or you stand the risk of leaving the prospect with the impression that your product or service is no better or worse then any of your competitors. And we don't market to make our prospects indifferent, now do we.
Offer: You need to make a low-risk offer to get the prospect to take the next step in the buying process. It could be some kind of an offer for more information. Or it could be a free trial.
3) Here's an idea: Be a little bit vulnerable. Let your potential customers know that times are bad. Tell them joins are slow. Tell them your business is down. Make them a one-time offer and let them know why you're making them this offer. And be specific. Tell them that you had X amount of joins in January last year and you only have this many this year. So here's what you'll do for them... You'll be amazed that when you're honest with people they'll be more likely to respond to your offer.
4) Innovate your business now! To get all the customers you need, you have to make your business better. Your job is to attract all the prospects that could be in the market for your product or service as possible. Find out what your customers (or as we call them, John Smiths) hate about your industry and build a better mousetrap. Innovation will not only help you now with your having "something good to say," but in the future, when things turn around you'll have more to offer them and you'll be way ahead of the game.
5) Finally, stay positive! It's hard sometimes with all the negative talk around you. But negative thoughts have never accomplished anything in business or in life. In fact, if you have a negative attitude, your business has one foot in the grave. Decide what you need to accomplish and make it happen. With solid marketing you can thrive in any economy. In fact, this bad time could be the best thing that's every happened to your company if you play your cards right.
Bruce Friedman is founder of Adult B2B Marketing. For more information, see AdultB2B.biz.
This article originally appeared in the April 2009 issue of AVN Online. To subscribe, visit AVNMediaNetwork.com/subscribe.
