If you have been in business for any length of time you know what it’s like to hit a dry spell. A period where there just doesn’t seem to be any sales coming in. Even if that period only lasts a couple of days it can be the worst. These slumps are not completely unavoidable but they can be made fewer and farther in between.
I speak from genuine experience that one of the primary causes, if not the only cause of these slumps in sales is the lack of marketing.
Marketing is as vital to your business as any other component. Without it your business will wonder into the doldrums of no sales and that place is where businesses go to die. To grow, to thrive, to make an impact, you have to market your company EVERY SINGLE DAY.
There are a lot of excuses people have for neglecting the companies lifeline. They tell me they are too busy, it costs too much, or that the business is doing just fine right now. If you find yourself saying any of these things go to the bathroom mirror, look yourself in the eyes and slap your own face as hard as you can. Then tell yourself how silly you were and that you will never act a fool again. After the swelling goes down and you have come back to your senses remember this quote I found on the back of a sugar package. “He who has a thing to sell and goes and whispers in a well is not so apt to make the dollars as he who climbs a tree and hollers!” Good right. Memorize it.
When I ran a sign company in Houston Texas there were dry spells that should have been predictable had I been a bit wiser. Our company was fortunate and was for the most part consistently busy. During these periods of fortune however we often neglected to market our service to potential customers. Not a single letter was mailed. Not a single ad was posted. We were so busy enjoying the work we had we failed to look at the horizon and plan for the continued journey. What happened? Eventually the work slowed down of course and we found ourselves looking around and wondering what went wrong. Without new clients knowing we existed we had no new work. Realizing we needed to let everyone know we were alive and kicking we would frantically start calling on new customers, sending mailers, posting ads, and in a few weeks we would be busy again starting the cycle anew. If I could I’d go back in time to kick my own arse and nail a sign to the office door that read “Always be Marketing”.
Things are different now. Today my company markets it’s services continually. I don’t care how busy things are, we are always marketing our service as a web development and website design company to the world. We continually tell everyone how we design awesome company sites for their business, help them with search listings, local listings, social media, content creation, email marketing services and more. In fact we have a part time power house who handles this as her only task with the company. The money I spend on marketing is like the money I spend on gas for my car. I am going nowhere without it so I just pay the bill and go.
Everyday we do one or several of the following:
- Create a new ad for my service
- Check and update my Pay per click on Google and Facebook
- Write content for my website that is helpful and compels people to buy my service (Ask me how I can help your business on the web – 800-372-5236 😉
- Look for opportunities to use print advertisement locally and execute if I find something I like.
- Engage with existing clients
- Follow up with old prospects
- Create an email that I can send out
- Mailers
- Look for creative alternatives to the above.
Now, if you know me, I am a big proponent of hiring a pro to do the things I shouldn’t be doing. I know that not all of us can hire a pro to handle aspects of our marketing full time but when you can you should. If you can get someone to manage your pay per click ads (I can do that for you), your website content (I can do that as well) your print and online ad creation (here I am) then do it. Saving yourself time is saving yourself money and having a pro handle what you are not a pro at is smart.
So go get’em. You have a service and product to offer that is great! Don’t put off telling the world about it for another minute!
Always Be Marketing!
If you need a new website or your current website needs some TLC, give me a call or send me an email. I love helping companies like yours look and sound great on the web!
Daniel Hunter
http://brightwebsystems.com
800-372-5236