The Worst Thing You Can do in Tough Times

The sky is falling.

What do you do?

I’m going to put aside for a moment the worries of getting sick from the Coronavirus. We all need to do what we feel is necessary to keep ourselves and our families healthy.

What I want to talk about is what to in business to overcome the hardships put in front of us like we see today. We have been dealt a severe curveball with the forced shutdown of our economy. Between government mandates and fear, people are freaking out, and commerce is coming to a grinding halt.

What most businesses do when times get tough is to start cutting. They cut employees, wages, expenses, and anything they can find to save money. They also cut their marketing. It is good sound business advice to start looking to trim the fat in economic downturns. But the one mistake that will absolutely kill you is to cut your marketing.

The reason is you cannot cut your way to success. You might be able to cut your way to survival – if that is all you care about. But that attitude usually results in a large number of failed businesses who just cannot cut far enough to survive.

In fact, not only should you not cut your marketing, but the wise thing to do is to increase your marketing.

There is no question that when the government forces businesses to close to try to slow the spread of the virus, money is going to stop flowing. You can’t spend money if businesses are not open that accept it.

However, not every business is closed. There are people that are still buying goods and services. And there are people that want to buy goods and services if they can find a way to do it. They are just harder to find. Which is why increasing your marketing is so important. You need to work extra hard to find those people that are still willing to buy the products or services that you sell.

Now you may say that some businesses, such as restaurants, are just screwed. If they are forced to close, what are they supposed to do? Believe it or not, there are viable ideas for those who refuse to be defeated.

What about advertising for take-out specials? Why not take some of your displaced employees and turn them into delivery drivers to deliver your meals to houses? Why not send out a mailing to all the homes in your area offering special delivery menus?

The point is, if you get creative, there is almost always a way to overcome challenges. In most cases, you do that with increasing communication to your customers and prospects via advertising and marketing. There are all sorts of ways you can do that, which include radio, TV, direct mail, email, texting, phone calls, and space ads. And most of these methods do not involve any risk of spreading the virus.

There’s one more point about marketing in tough times. Most of your competitors will not do it because they will be too busy cutting. That leaves a more wide open playing field for you.

Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, put your nose to the grindstone, put together a marketing plan that makes sense for the times, and go make something happen.

The sky is falling.

What do you do?

I’m going to put aside for a moment the worries of getting sick from the Coronavirus. We all need to do what we feel is necessary to keep ourselves and our families healthy.

What I want to talk about is what to in business to overcome the hardships put in front of us like we see today. We have been dealt a severe curveball with the forced shutdown of our economy. Between government mandates and fear, people are freaking out, and commerce is coming to a grinding halt.

What most businesses do when times get tough is to start cutting. They cut employees, wages, expenses, and anything they can find to save money. They also cut their marketing. It is good sound business advice to start looking to trim the fat in economic downturns. But the one mistake that will absolutely kill you is to cut your marketing.

The reason is you cannot cut your way to success. You might be able to cut your way to survival – if that is all you care about. But that attitude usually results in a large number of failed businesses who just cannot cut far enough to survive.

In fact, not only should you not cut your marketing, but the wise thing to do is to increase your marketing.

There is no question that when the government forces businesses to close to try to slow the spread of the virus, money is going to stop flowing. You can’t spend money if businesses are not open that accept it.

However, not every business is closed. There are people that are still buying goods and services. And there are people that want to buy goods and services if they can find a way to do it. They are just harder to find. Which is why increasing your marketing is so important. You need to work extra hard to find those people that are still willing to buy the products or services that you sell.

Now you may say that some businesses, such as restaurants, are just screwed. If they are forced to close, what are they supposed to do? Believe it or not, there are viable ideas for those who refuse to be defeated.

What about advertising for take-out specials? Why not take some of your displaced employees and turn them into delivery drivers to deliver your meals to houses? Why not send out a mailing to all the homes in your area offering special delivery menus?

The point is, if you get creative, there is almost always a way to overcome challenges. In most cases, you do that with increasing communication to your customers and prospects via advertising and marketing. There are all sorts of ways you can do that, which include radio, TV, direct mail, email, texting, phone calls, and space ads. And most of these methods do not involve any risk of spreading the virus.

There’s one more point about marketing in tough times. Most of your competitors will not do it because they will be too busy cutting. That leaves a more wide open playing field for you.

Instead of feeling sorry for yourself, put your nose to the grindstone, put together a marketing plan that makes sense for the times, and go make something happen.