advertising, sales and marketing

This economy has created both winner and losers. The quickest road to bankruptcy is to sit on your hands, do nothing, and wait for the economy to improve. no matter what industry you work in a "business as usual "mindset will sink your ship. you have to be innovative, stand out, and market your products and service in a new way.

Now more than ever you have to focus, improve, and possbly even change what you do to attain, retain and maintain customers. consider the following ten-steps to make your business recession proof.

Strategy 1.think big and audit your time.

No matter the size of your business, place a mental image in your mind as if you are the largest and most successful person in your industry. how much time is consumed by routine office work someone else should be doing? spend more time with more important tasks such as marketing strategies, improving customer relations, and implementing new strategies to expand your services.

Strategy 2. be different and stand out from the competition.
jordan furniture sells more furniture per squre foot than any other furniture store in the nation. they transformed their family-owned business into a multi-million dollar corporation by following a principle called "shoppertainment." to surprise employeess and customers,barry and eliot tatleman dressed up like the lone ranger and tonto and rode horses in their parking lot. they built an IMax theater inside one store to entertain children while their parents hopped. whe you drive around the back to pick up your furniture they provide you free hotdogs and wash your car windows.

Strategy 3. build relationships with your customers.

for each month that goes by,customer database and contact them on a regular basis. mail them a postarcard, birthday card, sales flyer, newsletter etc. to keep your name, phone number, and service on their mind
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Strategy 4. collect E-Mail addresses.

As part of customer relationship process get permission from your customers to use their E-mail address. periodically send updates and notices to your client list. as lonp as you have their permission and avoid overuse, E-mail can be a powerful and inexpensive marketing tool. consider the fox's pizza den in punxsutawney, PA, they ran an anniversary promotion offering a medium cheese pizza for the 1970 price of $1.40. to get this specia5 price, customers had to go to their web site and register their email address to have the special coupon emailed to them. An amazing 500 email addresses were collected in two days.