When Times are Tough...The Tough Start Marketing!

by Tammy de Leeuw
Financial Advisor Netzone
The Grouchy Marketing


I was talking with a local businesswoman the other day whose establishment sits
smack dab in the middle of a shopping center with more vacancies than tenants...

This particular shopping center is also conveniently located in one of the hardest-hit former boom towns in California. (double ouch!)

The brisk walkthrough traffic once enjoyed is a distant memory...

Merchants complain they can no longer gauge their "busy" days...

The parking lot stands empty most of the time.

This business owner told me, " I have to depend on foot traffic.
I don't have time and money to market my business..." (triple ouch!)

You ARE a marketer...

I don't care what you do for a living, what sort of expensive product or service you sell, how long you went to school to get your three degrees, or if you have tons of accolades and awards hanging on your wall...

YOU are a marketer.

Accept it...embrace it...Learn to do it better than anyone else and you will THRIVE.

Deny it or ignore it and you will be one of the ones who won't be around at the uptick.

When you become good at marketing, or at least become good at knowing what good marketing IS, you will be one of the ones who isn't at the mercy of "walkthrough" traffic but is instead "that guy" or "that gal" who attracts more clients than they can handle.

Bootstrapper?

If you are on a tight budget, here are some tips:

1. Make what you do now work better.
For example, are you sweating to renew the yellow pages ad you have
had for years? Before you spend that money, be sure the AD is made as effective as
possible. There is a simple step that will DRAMATICALLY increase the pull of even a small
yellow pages ad. Doing this will also help you TRACK to see if it is worth the the money.
I will explain this step in another article.

2. Write, write, write. If you are a halfway decent communicator, write about your particular
area of expertise. Maybe you are an expert in life settlements. Write an informative,
interesting article. Perhaps you know lots of ways to save on insurance. Write a 15-20 page
report: "Six Ways You Can Save Hundreds of Dollars on Your Insurance." You can use this
report in many different ways. Put together a small press packet with a nice photo of you,
a copy of your article or report, and a short biography and send this packet to the local paper
and news radio station.

Send a nice card to the editor of the paper or radio station manager inviting them to lunch.
Keep sending the cards until someone responds and agrees to meet you. Once is seldom
enough. Getting a warm relationship going with someone in your local media is the beginning
of free publicity for you.

You can also use the articles you produce on the web as your compliance department allows.
There are several sites, such as ezine articles, which allow you to post your articles for free.


The point is: you can't allow fear to paralyze you or you will do nothing...

And doing nothing is a surefire way to go out of business.