I was listening to Lynda Resnick this morning on WNYC (she’s a pro marketer and the owner of POM Wonderful amongst other things). She had some intriguing things to say about how businesses, large and small, can survive the economic crises. She said that businesses can stay ahead of the curve by tailoring their message, their prices and their products to what their customers need now.
In other words, if you run a business, understand that your customers today are different than they were six months ago.
Make sure that you recognize the intrinsic value of what you are selling and then tell people about it.
Any comments? (By the way, I bought her book “Rubies in the Orchard: How to Uncover the Hidden Gems in Your Business”.
We are living in strange times. Turn one direction and the recession stares you in the face (I’m noticing more and more empty stores in Soho). Turn the other direction, and you ask yourself “What recession?” (I stood in line at CVS for 15 mins the other day).
BIG Research did a study for Stores Magazine this month to find out what Americans will absolutely NOT give up…and guess what topped the list? Internet service! Yes, of all the things that we can do without, we are not giving up our Internet.
Even though times are strange, there are still people using the web. If 1,000 people per month were searching for your services last year at this time, there may be only 500 people per month searching for your services now. But don’t ya wanna be there when they are ready to buy?
So, give up other things…but…don’t give up on the Internet!
If you’re a business owner, it’s likely that you want the world to know that you are the best at what you do. You know that your competitors are using Google to market their services, but would it work for you?
The answer is: maybe. The secret is: you can test it very quickly and economically.
Using Google to test your online market is something that businesspeople are doing all the time. A test program can give you the data you need to decide if its worth a larger investment.
For example:
Do you want to know if your target market actually uses the Web to find your services? Run a test program for 2-3 months…and then analyze the results. Even if you want to reach the entire country, identifying two or three local test markets will give you the information you need to make future decisions. How many visitors did your site get? Did they turn into customers? What’s the return on investment?
Whether you have a small business or work for a large corporation, the concept is the same. Test, analyze and then act based upon what is working. Now you are in control of how you spend your advertising dollars!