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Marketing Your Business On A Smaller Budget
By Stacy Karacostas
Expert Author
Article Date: 2009-02-24
What is the one thing every business, large or small, needs to be successful? It's not necessarily a good brand-though that helps a lot.
It's not necessarily a lot of money. Plenty of businesses start up and grow on a shoestring. All four of mine included.
Employees? Nope. In fact many businesses thrive without the burden of payroll. I don't have any employees by choice.
This is something even more basic. And it's so critical that without this one thing it is impossible to achieve business success. In fact, without this it is impossible to have a business.
Give up yet? All right, I'll spill the beans.
The answer is.Customers!
The bottom line is (pun intended), without customers or clients you don't have sales. Without sales there's no revenue. And without revenue you don't have a business.Just a really expensive and time-consuming hobby.
So, next question. If customers are so important, how do you get them, and keep them?
With effective marketing, right? Sure, everyone know that.
Yet over the past twenty years of working in, running, and growing small businesses, I've found that most entrepreneurs spend as little time, money and energy marketing their businesses as possible. You can get by like this when people are spending. But lately what I'm hearing from established entrepreneurs who've typically relied solely on word of mouth is that business is slowing.
Doesn't matter if they've been around ten years or two. If they're not marketing they're losing customers, sales and market share.
What does this mean to you? To put it bluntly.
Especially in a week economy, your small businesses can't survive on referrals alone!!
You gotta do some marketing.
Effective marketing helps you get in front of your target market, stay top of mind, build a relationship and ideally convince them to do business with you. Stop marketing and chances are they're going to forget all about you.
So resist the urge to cut back on your marketing when times are tight. Instead make sure you're marketing dollars are working for you. That means tracking results, and either changing or dumping anything that isn't bringing you leads or sales.
And it means making sure you're not guilty of one or more of what I call "The Seven Deadliest Small Business Marketing Sins". Each of these sins is a major marketing mistake that at best costs you time and money, and at worst can cost you your business.
To find out if you're a marketing sinner, and what to do if you are, pop on over to http://www.7deadliestsins.com/ and grab your copy of my FREE, 24-page REPORT "The Seven Deadliest Small Business Marketing Sins.Are You Guilty?"
Remember, marketing isn't an optional expense. It's a required investment in the health and success of your business!
I'd love to know.
Are you doing anything different to market your business because of the economy?
What's working for you and what's not?
Comments
About the Author:
Practical Marketing Expert Stacy Karacostas, founder of SuccessStream Sales & Marketing Solutions, specializes in taking the stress, struggle and confusion out of growing your small business. She's the author of the 2-page marketing plan workbook Putting Your Business on the Road to Success, and The Small Business Website Bible. Stacy also writes the fun and informative Marketing Junkie blog and Bright Ideas weekly newsletter.
For more practical, business-building wisdom help yourself to a copy of her free report The 7 Deadliest Small Business Marketing Sins... Are You Guilty?
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