managing your practice
| By Larry Mersereau, CTC
BUSINESS DEVELOPMENT
Smart Marketing for Challenging Times
As you slash your marketing dollars, here’s what you can do to stay top-of-mind
among consumers.
Consumer confidence is at an all-time low. Businesses have cut spending to the bone. So
what do you do now? How do you
market your business in these challenging times?
First, don’t stop marketing, although it’s tempting to cut back. You
have to trust that the market will come
back. And when it does, businesses
that kept marketing actively during
the downturn will have top-of-mind
awareness among consumers.
company or individual, and repetitions
don’t accrue.
Focus
It may sound counterintuitive to
reduce your market reach when business is down, but my recommendation is to do exactly that. Focus on
the type of customers you serve best.
When money is tight, people want to
buy from specialists and experts in
their field. If you try to be all things to
all people, you will just blend in with
the crowd.
Focus on the people you serve best.
You know who they are: When they
walk in, you know exactly what they
need. You understand them and they
understand you. Work on finding
more prospects just like them.
When money is
tight, people want
to buy from
specialists and
experts in their field.
Reach vs. repetition
When allocating your marketing resources, understand the balancing act
between reach and repetition. Reach
refers to the number of prospects you
hope to put your message in front
of. Repetition is the number of times
they’ll see it.
Repetition is the key to successful marketing. People have to see you
numerous times before they even
start to recognize your name, let
alone know what makes you a good
choice for them. In budgeting your
time (for blogging, networking, etc.)
and money (for paid marketing), you
should tighten your reach and maintain repetitions.
And now that you’re focused on a
specific type of prospect, your communications can speak consistently
about the prospects’ unique needs and
desires. They’ll come to know your
company as the business that’s built
around them.
Be consistent
It’s also important that you look and
sound the same every time. If you
drastically change your ad layout, the
voice-over on your broadcast spots,
the look of your website or the tone
and attitude of your communiqué,
people will not realize it’s the same
Growth strategy
This year, business growth is all about
market share. Chances are that your
market isn’t growing; in fact, it may
even be shrinking. So you have to
accept the idea that your growth will
come out of your competitors’ hides.
Remember that your competitors are
in the same boat, so they’re trying to
steal your customers.
On the first front, market your agency
to stand out from the crowd of options.
If you specialize and demonstrate solid
expertise in a specific line or type of customer, you will easily take business away
from the generalists.
On the second front, spend some
of your resources on bonding with
your current customers. It’s a lot
easier to keep your customers happy
than it is to find new ones. But you do
have to reach out to them and show
how you can help them deal with
these challenging times.
Account reviews are welcome when
times are tough. When you tell your
customers, “Let’s get together and
make sure we’re doing this as efficiently as we can,” they will know that
you’re looking out for them.
Be focused, persistent and consistent. You’ll establish yourself as an
expert who is solid and confident. And
that’s who people want to deal with in
changing and challenging times.
Larry Mersereau, CTC, helps business owners
and self-employed professionals earn more
business. Author of four books on sales and
marketing, Mersereau consults with select
clients and speaks professionally. For more
information, visit
www.promopower.com.
