10 Marketing strategies for tough times

1. Reach out to new customers.
   Identify your ideal customers, create a small business marketing plan and take action to attract them through strong marketing messages which will increase your advertising’s effectiveness and credibility. Capture feedback which will determine a positive path to attracting the right kind of customer.
2. Keep in touch with existing customers.
   You already have a great relationship which has to be nurtured even if its just to see how things are going. By doing so you’ll be in their mind when they do need to buy your services. More effort should be focused on existing customers as compared to getting new customers.
3. Seek referrals from people who love you.
   Your happy customers would be only too pleased to recommend you to some new prospects – all you have to do is ask for them. Prospective customers would be more confident and receptive to a receive a referral from someone they know.
4. Attract business from markets in which you excel.
   Capitalize on your strengths and opportunities in areas which you already have proven experience. Businesses in these markets may already have heard of your company’s reputation and would favour discussion with a company with familiarity of their industry.
5. Establish the return required from your marketing investment.
   Determine the investment required to set up successful marketing initiatives and what a profitable return would look like.
6. Use a multi channel approach to marketing.
   Re-evaluate current marketing strategies and pinpoint strengths and weaknesses. Once you’ve recognised your target audience, integrate a marketing strategy framework which will set you on a planned marketing campaign and speed up your road to prosperity.
7. Embrace web marketing
   Raise your visibility on search engines by optimising your website. Add fresh content regularly and build up keyword phrases to attract, sell to and keep customers. Set up a blog, create press releases, and enter into the social networking arena. Establish good email marketing and social networking techniques to spread the word and build up a steady following.
8. Create strategic alliances
   It’s difficult to be a jack of all trades in today’s current economic climate therefore there is strength in building relationships with other companies to work on joint ventures. This brings in business and can also help you increase your service offering portfolio without having to waste valuable resources and increasing staff.
9. Re-evaluate your pricing strategy
   Consider what your competitors are offering, how they marketing their businesses, current economic factors and promotional goals. Inject a sense of urgency into marketing pieces by using incentive deadlines for promotions to avoid procrastination to closing a sale.
10. Measure the success of everything.
    Track your leads and sales revenue which will help you establish sensible marketing budgets in areas which actually worked for you historically by doing this you will avoid costly marketing strategies without return on investment.