Growth Strategies during a Recession
Recession Growth Strategies
1. Customer Focus - I'm sure you have heard this before - focus on your customer or your competitor will steal them away. Well it's true and we both know it! What is also true is that people remember bad economic times more than good! Being there with your customers during bad times can create a bond that is hard to break. This is also a good time to evaluate the worth of your customers. Are they profitable? Can they become profitable? If the answers are NO - this might be a good time to fire them! Don't drag down your resources on customers that are not profitable. Use your current customer base to profile the perfect customer. Then go out and market only to those that fit that profile. No use expending marketing dollars only to bring in more unprofitable customers!
2. Marketing Message - ALWAYS remember that your customers perspective IS reality! Nothing else really matters! How is your customer responding to the economic downturn? How can your product or service help them? Be sure to stay away from price wars during this time. If you customers are full of fear and uncertainty - you need to increase their confidence and deliver more value. Confidence and value perception are far more important to them than price at this time. We know we need to make buying decisions - we just don't want to make BAD buying decisions!
3. Guerrilla Marketing - The term "Guerrilla Marketing" was coined by Jay Conrad Levinson in his book Guerrilla Marketing. It's based on the premise that the best marketing is free marketing! You will get more business from referrals, publications, other unconventional methods with a system and a very low budget. I also call this MacGyver Marketing - look around and use what you have to market and sell. For example, while golfing the other day, as we drove up to the 9th tee box , a message popped up on the GPS screen in the golf cart asking if we were hungry? It also allowed us to place our order so they would be ready for us at the club house upon finishing the 9th hole. If that's not MacGyver marketing I don't know what is. It is also important to note that especially during down times it's important to keep a balance marketing portfolio. Don't invest heavily into one strategy. It's best to hit you market with multiple points of entry.
4. Watch and Learn - If I told you that a $1000 advertisement would yield you 100 great leads ($10 per lead), you would probably buy. However in reality it only yielded 10 average leads ($100 per lead) you might not be as quick to buy next time. With today's technology, marketing has become a science not an art. As a science, experiment with your marketing. Don't just stop doing it - tweak it! But have a process to know when it's not working - but then try something totally different!
Souce: Van Erem, Paul "Business Growth During Recession." Business Growth During Recession. 9 May. 2008. EzineArticles.com. 8 May 2009
