Hey, we live in uncertain times for certain (wink, wink, nod, nod). In the past several weeks that horse has been beaten and tortured to a gruesome death that would make PETA want to throw something on someone.
Hats off to the SMB’s I am talking to, though. In a pleasant ‘turn of events’ I have come across many SMB owners and marketers who have truly decided to not participate in the downturn. Of course, these folks don’t have some kind of magic formula to brush away tight credit and the arguably irrational fear that has gripped many. What they have chosen to do, however, is fight. I respect that because that’s what I have decided to do as well.
This is the reason why the cliché “When the going gets tough the tough get going” exists. It’s time to do whatever it takes to survive the storm and prepare to come out on the other side. If the doomsday prophets are right then we’ll have to worry about that but right now things are just bad, not catastrophic. It’s my hope and prayer that we don’t end up in any deeper in this ‘correction’ than we already are but if we do we are going to either have to choose to deal with it or just shrivel up and go away. One quit hint to prevent the further decline of western civilization: don’t give the media any place in your head. They are just selling as well and their precept of ‘If it bleeds it leads’ works to feed negativity and fear only. Don’t let the ‘you know what’s’ get you down.
Back to SMB marketing. I have talked about this before but when something is really important it bears repeating. Stop throwing away precious marketing dollars on crappy marketing options. If you cannot measure it don’t do it. If you are doing and you have to hesitate for even a second when asked “Is it making money for you? “ then seriously consider getting rid of it. You can’t manage what you can’t measure etc. etc.
The aggressive SMB marketers are turning more and more to the internet. They are more deeply considering search marketing as a whole and its place in the overall marketing mix. They are investing in search engine optimization (SEO) campaigns for the future and putting reassigned marketing budget toward activities like pay per click for the present. The real adventurous types are stepping up their social media and networking activities like blogging, article writing, thought leadership activities and experimenting with Facebook, Twitter and the myriad other social networking tools out there.
Where are you? What is your position on how to market during these uncertain times? I am looking for people to respond with their efforts and the reasons for their efforts. Remember that you have options and they boil down to the basic ‘Fight or flight’ reality of the times we live in. Tell me how you are fighting. I suspect that if you are in flight you aren’t reading this kind of stuff anyway.
SMB Takeaway: Time to fight. It’s your choice as a small / medium business in this economy to pack it in or start swinging. I am hearing more and more from those who like a good fight and it’s more fun to hang with those folks than the doomsday set.
Thanks and have a great day!
