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3 Marketing Mistakes That Sink Business in a Recession

By George Torok in Featured

A recession does not mean the end of your business unless you navigate those rough waters blindly. Here are three rocks that can sink your business ship unless you avoid them while navigating the dangerous waters of a tough market. You might get wet but no need to capsize.

Cut expenses across the board

Cut marketing. Cut staff. Cut all expenditures! This siren call is the most common and foolish mistake. It’s common because it is a knee jerk reaction that requires no thinking. It’s foolish for the same reasons. Making across the board cuts is a political response. It’s not a smart business strategy. If cutting across the board in tough times was smart then raising all expenses in good times would also be smart.

Instead, review all expenditures and categorize each line item into A, B and C categories in terms of ROI. “A” items are those expenditures where you can measure a strong return. Continue spending and maybe even increase these investments. “B” items are those that you believe are good but you haven’t yet developed an accurate measurement. Continue these activities, improve the tactics and improve the measurement. “C” items are losers. Stop these completely.

Cut your prices

You will be asked to cut your price. Don’t act like that is a surprise. And don’t pretend that this is the first time. So prepare for an onslaught of such requests. Prepare to deal with the price issue strategically not as a prisoner. Don’t cut price – without an equivalent exchange in value or a reduction in your costs. For example you might allow a discount for early payment or a larger order.

Another way to deal with price resistance is to introduce a lower value product. At the same time introduce a higher value product so the original product which is now in the middle looks more attractive. This is a variation of the good-better-best positioning. If you can’t afford a Lexus you can always buy a Toyota.

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Imagine how it looks when you stop attending trade shows, discontinue your advertising, shelve your newsletter, stop meeting with clients and avoid networking events. Imagine what your clients will think, what your competitors can say and what prospects might believe. None of it will be positive for you or your business.

When times are bad, people need to hear from you more often. Especially make a point of connecting with your best clients and advocates more often. Make your connections more personable so they can feel your confidence.

For the rest of your clients and contacts find efficient ways to stay connected. Maybe it’s a good time to launch your newsletter – or publish it more often. Explore the tools on the Internet that allow you to stay in touch with people easier and more cost effectively. It might be a good time to launch your blog, build your FaceBook page or post videos on YouTube.

A recession can be tough. No need to panic. It’s time to think and act smart with your marketing. Keep your business off the rocks while aiming for the deeper waters beyond. Don’t stop paddling until you are clear of the rocks.

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© George Torok is the co-author of the bestselling Secrets of Power Marketing. It’s published in at least seven countries. He helps small and medium businesses gain an unfair advantage over the competition. Get your free copy of “50 Power Marketing Ideas” at http://www.PowerMarketing.ca Arrange for Torok to speak at your conference by visiting http:///www.Torok.com For media interviews call 905-335-1997

10,000 Reasons Why You Should Do Your Homework Before Investing In An Online Business Opportunity

By Bill Platt in Featured

I have been providing advertising services to online businesses since 2000. I have helped many people become successful online through the use of my services.

Too often, I only hear from people on the phone after they have lost tens or hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to launch their new online business ventures. They call me when they have just a few dollars left. I sometimes wish people would have found me first, so that I could have helped them find real success, instead of heartache.

Beware Of The Charlatans

Before you consider spending any large chunk of cash, please be aware of those who are preying upon the Internet newcomers.

I know companies selling cookie-cutter websites for tens of thousands of dollars, and those cookie-cutter websites have never helped anyone achieve any kind of success online.

If you are buying a website that is selling products available on thousands of websites, it will be extremely difficult for you to stand out among the crowd.

I know that these cookie-cutter sites are attractive, because they have the products, the shopping cart, and the fulfillment systems built in, but you are still one of thousands of sites displaying the exact same kind of products for the exact same prices. You are only one in a huge wilderness of sites that might look different, but are exactly the same under the hood.

In these cases, the only website owner who profits is the guy who is selling the cookie-cutter website and handling the product fulfillment for the customers.

The guy selling the site wins in three ways: 1. Selling the cookie-cutter website for 10 grand; 2. Filling the product orders and collecting his wholesale fees; and 3. He gets to capture the email and mailing addresses of people who buy products from the cookie-cutter sites.

Beware Of The Cost Cutters

If you are selling any kind of hard-product (a product that must be shipped to the customer), be aware of the price comparison websites, such as http://Nextag.com/ where consumers can find the product they want to buy, then compare prices on that particular product across hundreds of websites.

You might be the one providing the best information about the product, only to ensure that your lowest price competitor gets the sale.

It is tough selling hard products online for this very reason, unless you are an exclusive distributor of such a product or no other companies have shown an interest in selling that kind of product.

Beware Of Import/Export

Before diving off into buying products from China to resell in the United States, you need to be aware of the laws governing the importation of certain product types.

There are certain products that the Chinese Wholesale sites would be happy to sell to you. And at the same time, the U.S. Customs Office would be happy to seize those products at the border, due to import restrictions.

If the U.S. Customs seizes your shipment, your investment may be lost forever.

You should know what you can import and what you can export. Know the facts, before spending your money arranging large product shipments into the United States. http://Customs.gov/ is a good place to start to learn about importing products into the U.S.

Beware Of Bad Business Advice

If you have ever heard that online business is different than offline business, please take some time to understand what that actually means.

Primarily, it means that I do not have to have an office on Main Street USA in order to do business online. I can run my business out of my house, if I so desire.

Beyond that difference, both methods of doing business are exactly the same.

The rules that govern the profitability of a business are exactly the same.

You must earn more than you spend to make a profit, and what you pay yourself is an expense.

Beware of Those Who Are In The Business Of Selling Lies

There are tons of people online who prey on people like you.

The one that immediately comes to mind is the Internet Marketing guru who says that you can hire ghost writers for $5 an article, and that is all you should need to spend.

I provide ghost writing services, and I cannot get good content for anywhere near $5 per article.

What you usually get for $5 is stolen from someone else, or it looks like it was written by a second grader.

The thing that is so ironic about that claim is that the gurus saying that you should only pay $5 for an article are usually paying $250 to $500 to have their articles written. And they would never tell you WHO writes their articles, because finding and keeping good help is tough, even online.

I can get decent articles written for you, for well under $250, in fact, for under $100 and sometimes for under $50, depending on if I am doing the writing or my writers are doing the writing.

It is important for you to understand that awesome writers can typically earn you an awesome Return On Investment (ROI).

When you find those awesome writers, you need to pay them what they require to keep them on your payroll, and you certainly do not want to share their name with another, in the off-chance that they decide that they would prefer to work for the other guy instead of you.

It is just bizarre to me that the big Internet Marketing gurus are telling you that you should never pay more than $5 an article, when I know for a fact that many of them are paying $250 to $500 an article to have their own stuff written.

You know what this actually boils down to?

Those gurus are not telling you what you need to know. They are telling you what you want to know.

Shame on them.

Just Be Careful Out There

The Internet is full of fraudsters looking to get your money and steal your your dreams.

So be careful not to become a victim of the Internet Marketing dream.

Many of my customers have taken the time to learn how to be successful, and they are. I have several clients who earn 7-figures a year from their online marketing endeavors.

If you learn the necessary work processes that you will need to do, offer a product or service people actually want or need, and you follow through with good advertising and customer service, you can be successful too.

Unfortunately, most people will blow their bankroll, before they figure out what it was that they were doing wrong. And then it is too late, because they no longer have the resources to make anything happen.

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Bill Platt has been providing article marketing services since 2001, including article ghost writing and article distribution services, through his website at: http://thePhantomWriters.com/ You can download Bill’s free ebook titled, “Article Marketing: Beyond the Basics” on his blog. You can also listen to Article Marketing Tips and Tutorials at: http://ArticleMarketingConceptsRadio.com/

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