Do you feel like you are trying to market your business from the upper deck of Yankee Stadium during a game against the Mets? The crowd is overwhelming, the noise is deafening and you don’t think anyone hears you…
Marketing messages require a measurable feedback loop in order to improve sales. Poor sales from expensive marketing leads to frustration. During times of recession, frustration can turn to panic. Panic-based reactions lead to mistakes.
What should a small business person do?
First, stop and take a breath. Don’t plan while emotionally charged.
Lets get started:
- Complete a SWOT analysis of your business (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats).
- Seek out professional guidance such as a local small business development center to evaluate the SWOT results and help you plan.
- Set a realistic time frame for recovery.
- Create an ironclad method of measuring results. Measurement could be as simple as adding a tick-mark to a form: Counting the number of messages going out versus the number of responses.
No response? Make one minor change and repeat. Keep repeating until you can influence action on the part of your target customer.
Don’t give up and don’t take money from the government–unless your business could be run better by congress?
Here is the most important part: Kiss your spouse, pet your dog, and spend time with your children. Keep in focus that which is important in your life. Running your own business is hard and knowing why you do it will help you over come the obstacles. Oh yes, and occasionally watch the ball game.
Ed Bejarana
BusinessBlogging.net
a division of Zenith Exhibits, Inc.
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"Kiss your spouse, pet your dog, and spend time with your children. Keep in focus that which is important in your life."
This is a really good advice. Especially people in start-ups often "forget" about their family and friends. But there are still as important as before.
In fact, there are scientific studies that entrepreneurs without a stable family and friends background are much less successful!
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