"Even if you are on the right track. You'll get run over if you just sit there"

We’re all nodding. We know it’s true. We work hard running or managing our businesses but if we don’t keep an eye on what is happening outside of our business, we can often find ourselves in trouble.

This is my favourite saying and I have it printed on a big purple board in the office in case we forget. And it’s easy to get side tracked. We all market our businesses in some way. It’s what we are doing that is important. We get so entrenched in our work, in what we do and trying to deliver an excellent service that we forget what’s really important to our customers and what is happening in their lives.

If we stop and take the time to understand what it is our customers really want. And that might be very different from what they wanted a year ago, or even three months ago, we might do things very differently.

Have you heard or found yourself in any of these situations?

  • You are really busy and don’t have time to do any marketing at all.
  • You are really quiet and are now panicking where your next business is going to come from so you’ll try anything once.
  • Get a call from someone with such a tempting offer, it’s half the normal price and any advertising is good advertising, right?
  • We need to cut down our spending so we won’t be doing any marketing for a few months. It never seems to work anyway so I don’t think we’ll notice a difference.
  • To save costs this year we’re going to design and print our own leaflets. They don’t look as good as the professional ones we have had done in the past but most of them probably end up in the bin anyway.
  • I haven’t got the time to do any networking this month. I’ll go when it’s quiet.
  • I always get my business by word of mouth.
  • I’ve sent out 5000 leaflets and only had one enquiry.

The list could go on. The truth is, marketing is a process. It has a beginning; it has a middle, but never an end. It isn’t something you pick up and drop when you get busy. It should be planned, relevant and targeted activity all throughout the year.

The more relevant and targeted your marketing, the better results you will get. But there is no doubt that marketing does work but you have to keep working at it and looking at your market to see that what you are doing is still relevant and engaging.

Invariably you will need to invest in marketing to grow a business but it doesn’t always mean throwing a lot of money at it. Many people who have had marketing activities fail may have used the wrong medium to communicate with their market or not used the right message.

Here are our Top Tips to help you market yourself out of a recession:

  1. Keep in touch with your existing customers
    Customers really are King. If you don’t communicate with your existing customers you can be sure there are competitors out there who are! But we often forget them. Email marketing is a really cost effective, drip, drip method of keeping in touch. It reminds them that you are there and can give you instant feedback of what they find interesting. If there are customers you haven’t heard from in a while, pick up the phone, and find out how they are and what’s happening in their business.
  2. Get your website working for your business
    Look at your website. Does it portray your business correctly and tell your customers and potential customers what you do in 3 seconds? Monitor traffic to your website with free tools like Google Analytics, you’ll find the stats really interesting. If you find that you are getting lots of hits but then people are leaving quickly, the content isn’t right. If you aren’t getting the visitors then you need to work on web promotion through search engine optimisation or pay per click advertising. Even if you don’t want to sell your products and services with an ecommerce site, your website can bring business to your door, it just needs to have the right promotion and the right message.
  3. Get your message right
    You could have the best products and services in town but if you are not telling your customers how will they find out? But remember customers want to know what you are going to do for them, not about your products and services. So be clear, keep it simple and think how you can help them. Make sure this is clear on your website, on your emails, on your leaflets…however you communicate with your clients. Be consistent.
  4. First impressions do count
    Never underestimate the image of your company. If you are selling a quality product and service but your branding, leaflets and website look cheap they are not going to portray the right message and will put off customers. Visual impact is so important in our busy worlds because we are bombarded with messages. How your business stands out from the crowd to reach your customers is vital. Get it right first time but if it’s not working don’t be afraid to change it. It could be a simple change but the results could be dramatic.
  5. Be targeted
    In a recession things change dramatically. Look at the type of customers who are still spending with you and target more of the same. But make your campaign very targeted. Don’t try and communicate with everyone, just in case, just think of that small group of customers and what they need to know. A targeted direct mail campaign, followed up with phone calls can have stunning results if you have done your homework and can show them how you can help them. You might only send out 20-30 out at a time but it really can work.

If you haven’t got the time or you have simply run out of ideas, give First Impression a call. We can help you market your business and deliver targeted campaigns that will really show a return on investment. Call us now on 01457 857111 or Send us an email