You may have noticed that the news media “Grinchs” have been spreading fear regarding the economy. Most news reports, talk shows, and newspapers spew numerous reports about how bad things are, or how bad they will be.
According to the “Grinchs of Doom” our country is going down the tubes. Unemployment is up, retail sales are down all are touted as major indicators of the economy and how hopeless your future is. The fact is that you and I have very little immediate control over any of these things.
However, we do have control over our businesses, the quantity and quality of the product or services we produce, the speed we produce that product and the price we charge for it.
The effect of the negative news coverage is that everyone gets nervous about the things they have no control over and take their eyes off the things they do have control over; things which really do affect their personal prosperity. Businesses get nervous about surviving, making payroll and paying the bank note. Employees get worried about keeping their jobs and staying ahead of their bills. The result: everyone and everything stops moving and production slows down. Things do get slow not because of anything else but scared people pull back.
The negativism of the news media is one of the major causes of a recession because the fear and uncertainty they instill. Having said this – WHAT CAN YOU, me and Cindy Lou… DO ABOUT IT?
There are two things you can do: (1) Go into agreement with the news media, hunker down, pull back and conserve your pennies. OR, (2) Take control of your future, disagree with “The Grinchs of Doom”, kick up your promotion and advertising. Let people know you are there and invite as many people (from Whoville) as you can to do business with you. Improve the quality of the service you deliver. All are proactive things you have control over that really do affect your success.
The attitude of number one above is that of a victim (i.e. The Grinch). You are not reaching out and are in a defensive posture.
Football games may be won with defense but in the game of business if you switch to a defensive mind set you will lose. The reason is that no matter how slow things may get if you don’t promote things will get a lot slower. Fact is that no matter what you sell there are always people out there who want to buy it. If you are inviting them to do business with you on a regular basis they will call you. You may have to work a little harder to get the business, but if you don’t, one thing is for sure: your competitors will work very hard to get your business out from under you.
I have been in marketing and advertising my entire professional life—some 25 years. I have been through several recessions and down turns in the economy. The hard and fast rule is that businesses that increase their promotion and advertise always increase their market share, usually significantly. On the other hand, businesses that go into survival/cutback mode shrink and die.
The fact of the matter is, you control your future. The times we are in now present a great opportunity for you and me to grow. I know that the majority of my competition is doing number one above. They are cutting their marketing budgets and cutting personnel. With fewer competitors advertising this leaves the market uncluttered so my message has a greater impact. When the competition cuts personnel this affects their ability to deliver service to their customers quickly and efficiently. This causes customer dissatisfaction and upsets. This is doubly good for me because not only are they not inviting people to do business with them but they are making it possible for me to pick up the customers they upset with poor service.
There are some things to remember when advertising in a downturned economy. One is to hone your message. You want to make sure that your message is focused on the needs of the customer. People always buy for emotional reasons and they buy benefits and solutions for the problems they have. Let me put it to you this way, last year Lowe’s sold one million ¼ inch drill bits. The people who bought these drill bits did not want ¼ inch drill bits, they wanted ¼ inch holes. Customers buy for their reason not yours and they buy benefits and solutions to their problems. Make sure your advertising is directed at solving the customer’s problems. The help you offer is one of the most powerful services you have in your marketing arsenal.
The second thing to do is get back to the basics of your business. Do the things you do best and are known for. Seldom is the road to financial success found at the end of a new road. It is usually the old road that is well known and worn from experience that gets you to your destination. New programs and projects can be expensive. They divert attention from the successful things you have done, take up resources and take time and money to get the bugs worked out. I am not saying you should not add new programs and services to what you sell. But, make sure if you are adding something new that is a natural adjunct to what you and your customers need, want and will buy before you commit yourself to it. During an economic slow down is not usually the best time to add something totally new and different.
The third thing for you to know is the law of frequency. The law of frequency simply stated is, the size of the database X the number of times the database is advertised to (or called on) = RESULTS.
One of the services we offer is marketing and design help. At Wilson Printing we can help you design a message that is targeted correctly and looks professional, print it professionally for you and mail it.
The Grinchs in news media will always make the news worse than it is, that is how they keep your attention and make their money. If you turned the TV off and didn’t read “the bad news” newspapers for a week I promise you, you’d be in a more proactive frame of mind. Whether you fail in business or succeed in business will be because of what you do or do not do. You may have to work harder to out produce it. You can out produce it. Not out producing it is not really an option, is it?
“If you would like to find out how to maximize your promotion call me for a free consultation.”
– Mark Hale, CEO, Wilson Printing
www.wilsonprinting.net
727-536-2935
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