Why it is a mistake to cut your marketing budget.
Have you noticed the shrinking size of magazines and other print publications? Is it due to less available content or fewer newsworthy articles? No! It is due to shrinking ad budgets. Advertisers are running for the hills as they pull back and slash their marketing budgets. The end result is formerly burgeoning magazines are now a mere shadow of their former selves.
To stay ahead of your competitors, especially when they are in full retreat, you need to keep your marketing momentum going. If you pull back, your customers may loose sight of you in the marketplace and possibly forget about you all together.
If you think that “hunkering down” is the way to survive this economic downturn, consider this:
10 sure-fire ways to kill your small business
1) Stop Marketing and pretend that everyone knows who you are and what you sell.
2) Stop Marketingand fantasize that you have more important things to worry about in your business.
3) Stop Marketing and make believe that your customers didn’t notice that you stopped sending your newsletter.
4) Stop Marketing and continue to tell yourself that your customers will never abandon you.
5) Stop Marketing and ignore all the potential new customers that would do business with you, if they only knew you existed.
6) Stop Marketing and stop thinking about what your competitors are doing with your customers.
7) Stop Marketing and keep telling yourself “it costs too much” to advertise.
Stop Marketing and disregard the fact that marketing is an business investment, not an expense.
9) Stop Marketing and pretend that your customers will still believe that you care about them, even if you never tell them.
10) Stop Marketing and forget that NOW is the BEST time to advertise as all of the other IDIOTS in business have chosen not to.
There has never been a better time to tell the world that your business is there and what it does or sells.
Tell your existing clients you both appreciate and need them.
Announce to prospective new clients that you are ready and prepared to serve them.
Don’t let this great opportunity pass you by!