It can be tempting to craft a marketing strategy based on delivering immediate results, especially when business is slow. The problem is that doing so can and usually will have a detrimental effect on your return on investment and the overall success of your business.
Think about it like this. You can hold a sale when business gets slow, and you’ll probably produce an immediate increase in your revenue that you wouldn’t have otherwise produced during this time period. Unfortunately, you will have done so at a lower profit margin. Over time you will also make your customers expect a sale and when you aren’t having one, they’ll simply wait until you do. It can put you in a bad situation pretty quickly. This is exactly what happened to SEARS quite a while ago.
Instead of trying to generate new business today, focus on generating new business tomorrow and every day there after. Make your company a resource to your prospects and clients by providing information and tools that they can use to improve their own businesses. Create new ways to reach your prospects. Look at needs that aren’t filled and find ways to fill them. Partner with related, but non-competing companies to provide a greater value. Ask your clients and prospects what they need, what they want, and probably more important, what gets them excited in their business, and then provide exactly that.
Successfully marketing your company can be one of the most difficult aspects or one of the easiest aspects of business. It?s up to you. If you work smarter than your competitors, you won?t have to work as hard. If you try to do the same thing they are, you?ll need to work around the clock. I know what my choice is, what?s yours?
