Important lessons from 2009
It was announced recently that the US is no longer in recession after recording growth in the last quarter. 
I think it is important for business owners to keep a ‘recession mentality’ when looking at their strategy for growth in 2010.
When I say a ‘recession mentality’ I mean people should still be looking at every dollar and every minute they spend in their business from a very critical point of view.
In Australia we were lucky to be reasonably sheltered from the recession. Although I have spoken with many businesses that did suffer from the credit crunch and the drastic change in value of the US dollar this year, most people I know have not really been too affected by the GFC.
I just read a great article from Brain Solis on Building Your Business in a Recession. It made me think that although most people I know seemed to have ‘dodged’ the recession, we should use recent world events to be more critical of our business decisions moving forward into 2010.
Most business owners I’ve spoken to recently are aware they need to evolve their marketing to be more relevant in 2010. My advice is if you are serious about making some changes and transforming your online presence, don’t wait until 2010 to make a decision on get started on this.
It still to this day suprises me how many people will continue marketing with what I like to call ‘bad media habits’ – constantly spending money on exposure and traffic without considering how they could invest their marketing dollars in a smarter way with online strategies.
It is possible to create online assets for your business that produce ongoing results rather than ongoing expenses, which will not only reduce your advertising costs but also boosts your sales.
If there is one thing we can all learn from the recession, I feel it is to be more frugal with where our marketing dollars are going and look at ways we can be using them more effective to create leverage and ongoing results.
Traditional marketing does work, but if you get it wrong it can be a very expensive exercise. What is going to work harder for you in 3 months time? Another ad in the paper this weekend or more effective lead generation strategy on your website?
Online marketing for me is the most exciting thing for business moving into 2010. No other medium allows you to expand your sales team by having another salesperson that will work without a salary, that doesn’t need a commission and is guaranteed to deliver your message word perfect every time. Video is one of the fastest, easiest and most cost effective strategies to achieving this.
Most online marketing projects take at least a few weeks to implement and if you wait until next year it is likely you might not get anything started until February. If you speak to someone this week about your online marketing, you’ve got a chance to get a system in place that will be working and ready to kickstart your new marketing approach before 2010.
Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/passiveaggressive/3697561531/
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