|
|||||
|
|
Tips & Tactics for Growing Your Company Multichannel Magic Newsletter
Email Treasure Map
A Step-by-Step Action Guide for
Increasing Open Rates, Click Through, & Response
(Improving customer relations and
profitability along the way)
Click Logos to Join Our Community:
|
How to Use the Recession to Grow Your Business Now is the time to choose: safety or strategy? Are you hunkering down during this recession, hoping to survive the fallout? Or, are you positioning your company for growth? There is no doubt that these are challenging times for all businesses. Costs are up and sales are down. The natural reaction is to batten down the hatches and wait for the storm to end. The majority of companies will hunker down. Their focus will be on reducing costs by eliminating positions, decreasing advertising, and minimizing service. Smart executives take a different approach. They use the downtime to find new opportunities, improve customer relations, and fine-tune their marketing and operations. Growing a business is like farming. Everything has a season. There is a time to plan and prepare (winter), a time to plant (spring), a time to nurture (summer), a time to harvest (fall). During the winter season, good farmers maintain or repair their equipment, plan their crops and rotation, and seek new markets. They know that when they move into the next season their time is better spent planting than planning. This recession is your winter season. Use it wisely, so that when you move into the growth season you are prepared. It will catapult your company past your competitors who spent their time warming their feet by the fire instead of planning for the upturn. Here are the top 10 things to do today to position your company for growth and profitability tomorrow: Research new trends, markets, and niches. Our world is changing. Social media, web 2.0, and mobile web are only the beginning of the tide. Who knows what opportunities you will find when you open the door to different ideas. Look for ways (old and new) to expand your product lines and improve your service. Rethink your strategic plan. Unless your company is a startup, your strategic plan was developed prior to many of our technological advances. Customer expectations are changing. Your products and service need to change to match the market demand. Streamline your operations. Systems evolve as new issues arise. Invariably, the need for some processes becomes obsolete long before they are eliminated. Review every system, process, and policy, for need and effectiveness. Eliminate when possible, refine when needed. Align resource allocation with priorities. The evolution of business often leaves resource allocation misaligned with objectives. Review your financial, staff, and marketing appropriations to insure that your resources are being used where you receive the most benefit. Improve communication with customers and employees. Clear communication is mandatory when conditions are uncertain. Employees worried about their jobs don't provide peak performance. Customers wondering about your stability won't buy. Use this time to improve your relationships. Implement a benchmarking program. Lack of time and resources is the number one reason given for not benchmarking. Starting one reduces costs and increases sales. Can you think of a better time to begin? Optimize your website. Think content, content, and content. The best way to improve your natural search rankings is to provide quality content. Transfer the information about your products and services from your files to your site. Improve your product descriptions so your customers have answers to their questions before they ask. Create a frequently asked questions section if you don't have one. Expand it, if you do. Convert your multiple channel company into a cross channel organization. The primary difference between the two business models is the ability to leverage across channels. Customers have a seamless experience, management is simpler, and costs are minimized. Profile your customers. Do you know the difference between your hit-and-run customers and the ones that come to stay? Would you market differently to them if you did? How much money would it save if your marketing matched your customers buying patterns? Marketing smarter trumps marketing more every time. Get smart. Be happy. I know, I know. Feel free to call me "Pollyanna" as long as you try it. Working in a negative environment is stressful, counterproductive, and unnecessary. Focusing on the negative prohibits creativity and innovation. Don't let gloom and doom keep you and your company from reaching your potential. Next Steps: Give your email marketing a makeover Email Treasure Map: How to Move from the Outbox to the Shopping Cart Reduce marketing to hit-and-run customers How Much Money Do You Waste Marketing to Hit-and-Run Customers?
Stay ahead of your competition by subscribing now. Don’t lose your competitive edge by waiting for the articles to be posted online.
It is free and guaranteed to help you profitably grow your business. If you are still undecided, check out more free articles. Thank you for stopping by for a visit. Y’all come again soon! Have a great day!
Debra Ellis - Founder P.S. Even if you don't subscribe, join our Multichannel Magic blog. We love to have commentary that that helps our industry improve. Do you like this article?
Please feel free to share it. You may send it to your own list, post it on
your site, or post it on your blog. It must be unaltered and printed in its
entirety, including links.
|
(Click the image to view the coverage)
Social Media Efficiency:
|
|
Home ~ Services ~ Playbooks ~ Articles ~ Contact Us ~ Blog ~ Join Our Affiliate Program
3175 Sweeten Creek Road ~ Asheville, NC 28803 Office: (828)626-3756 ~ Fax: (828)626-3753 admin@wilsonellisconsulting.com Copyright © 1998-2009 Wilson & Ellis Consulting All rights reserved For Reprint Permission contact dellis@wilsonellisconsulting.com For the Media For Search Partners 
|
WEC in the Press
