(With apologies for the insulting quote in the title of today’s post… and also for bringing up memories of an election year gone by…)

What do we do in a down economy?

It happens.  Sometimes your business is affected by an economic downturn.  Whether you’ve got a local business like the ones that serve our local Sarasota community — an economy that has previously been unfortunately based upon housing and construction — or one that exports products or services outside of your region, sometimes business slumps and it has nothing to do with what you did “right” or “wrong.”

So… inevitably the belt-tightening begins.  Trim here, cut there.  Perhaps we are forced to reduce staffing levels, perhaps we improvise and begin to try to creatively respond to new market conditions.

But… whatever you do, don’t make the mistake of killing your marketing.

I’ve seen this again and again. Advertising budgets are sometimes the first to go. And… while I’m the first person to agree that much of the advertising going on in the small business world should be replaced with much more effective marketing efforts, the underlying philosophy here is deadly.

If you’re not marketing, it’s only a matter of time before the inevitable occurs.

Changing Your Investment Strategy

In the 21st Century, there’s no excuse for not getting results. Even if your advertising budget is non-existent, there are myriad tools that are free or low in cost that leverage technology to facilitate connecting your future customers with your business. This is where we need to invest — most significantly, time and energy.  But certainly financial resources must be committed to these high-ROI methods.

Watch this space for some tips you can implement right away.