Surviving vs. Thriving

Jan 31 2009

Last week we discussed how simply staying afloat in a down economy is commendable. And, it is. However, it’s worth examining what it is you are doing (or not doing) that is keeping your business just barely in the black.

I’ve spoken with several business owners over the past month who have proudly declared that they are making ends meet in this economy. As I said, that’s great. But, with equal enthusiasm they then say, “And all without spending a dime on marketing!”

“Wait. What did you just say?” I think to myself.

At a time when consumers are being even more discriminating with their hard-earned dollars, now is the exact wrong time to throttle your marketing budget. The fact is, a lot of businesses have had to make the tough decision to cut their payroll. It seems counter intuitive to then turn around and spend that money on something like marketing. But, considering that competing for business is no small task when times are good, it’s about three times as hard when people have less money to spend. Your company needs to be doing everything it can to stand out from all the other companies who have climbed under proverbial rocks waiting for things to get better.

“But I can’t afford to run ads in newspapers or on TV,” is one of the responses I’ve heard. A lot of small business owners simply equate marketing with advertising and even then, only a limited type of advertising. Sure, that’s one aspect of marketing. But, marketing is the total of activities involved in getting your product or service into the hands of your target audience. For instance, placing an ad in the local paper for a product or service aimed at teens or tweens might not be the best use of your money. How many kids do you think read the paper? My guess is not many. Hosting a Tweetup (a gathering of Twitter users) to launch or introduce your service would probably cost way less and be much more effective.

The thing we do best here at Zero-G is help you decide how to use your marketing budget in the most effective way for your business/product/service. We don’t use a “one-size-fits-all” approach. On the contrary, we design custom plans for each client to ensure we are delivering results without draining their budget.

What does that mean to our clients? It’s the difference between merely surviving and actually thriving.