February 2009 
Resolve to Solve Your Business Recession in 2009
2009 promises to be a tough year, tougher than we may have faced in recent memory. Why? Two words – the recession.
The
recession has come home to roost on our doorstep bringing with it job
loss, foreclosures, business and personal bankruptcies and an inability
to live as we did last year. Ahhh, last year was a good year and we
reaped what we sowed in business and personally. We grew, we learned,
we prospered, we were blessed with abundance, and then the recession
crept in on silent feet and caught many people by surprise. These days the watchwords are "budget, survive, cope and recover." If you are running a small business today then you will have a first hand, up close and personal experience with these words. No doubt you are also planning what to do to make 2009 a year of "making it through the recession" and thriving. It most definitely is doable with some smart moves on your part.
What does it take to move forward in 2009? It takes change, a fresh new attitude and approach to doing business. And, not just doing business, we need to change our point of view on a personal level as well, for business and personal interactions are part and parcel of marketing. In other words, you can't have one without the other.
Do Some Figuring!
It's time to sit down and figure out how to get back to ways of interacting with people that offer them value on many levels. To do this you need to ask yourself why you are in business in the first place, and give an honest answer. What were the values that drove you to go into business in the first place and have you gotten off course over the years?
It's time to sit down and figure out how to get back to ways of interacting with people that offer them value on many levels. To do this you need to ask yourself why you are in business in the first place, and give an honest answer. What were the values that drove you to go into business in the first place and have you gotten off course over the years?
What you want to know is if you are providing value to everyone you interact with by being honest and dealing with them with integrity, by giving back to the community what you took from it? Your core question will be this: What am I doing that makes a difference in the world? Being honest Joe will appeal to customers and employees.
This doesn't mean you need to resort to doing something incredibly complex and convoluted. No, instead follow that old principle KISS – Keep it supremely simple – or words to that effect. ☺ Just get back to the basics of doing business, being who you are and find simple solutions to make things work. Simple is a lot easier to manage and causes fewer headaches. The time has come to take a hiatus from all the clamoring technology that surrounds us daily.
New Ideas!
This next idea will make you sit up and take notice, but it makes eminent and elegant sense. Many businesses these days are looking to lay people off and cut back on operations. Be different and stand firm. Practice something referred to as "care forward." In other words, create programs that do something for your employees, provide more for your customers (more assistance, more care, more attention to detail, more simple innovation), and take a lead role in your community.
This next idea will make you sit up and take notice, but it makes eminent and elegant sense. Many businesses these days are looking to lay people off and cut back on operations. Be different and stand firm. Practice something referred to as "care forward." In other words, create programs that do something for your employees, provide more for your customers (more assistance, more care, more attention to detail, more simple innovation), and take a lead role in your community.
When the economy recovers, guess who will be there spending money at your business?
Right, those very people you helped when times were tough. This is
often referred to as customer retention, but this has an interesting
twist to it.
There is a personal aspect to staying in touch with your customers, asking about their lives, families and businesses. Call this social networking done in a quietly respectful way. It will be the backbone of the economy in 2009 – the reaching out to stay in touch with others. This is what collaboration is all about – the all for one and one for all.
If you really want to capture the gold ring of success, go green. This trend shows no signs of slowing down and you would be amazed how many people will flock to buy your products if they are kind to the environment. Already doing green? Then flog it without mercy. It is the way of the future.
Just back to social networking for a moment. It only takes one quick tour of online social networking sites to know they are the run away trend for 2009 and beyond. Their appeal is enormous and their reach phenomenal. Capture that potential business base and you are on your way to success. Use it in ways that are creative, unique and catchy and you will be remembered.
Working from home will be even bigger in 2009 and allow more people to keep their jobs, cutting back on the expenses of travel, buying clothing and arranging daycare, etc. The work force in 2009 will be situated in cyberspace and the results will be increased productivity.
Seek out new ways to keep yourself and your business a growing concern. In other words, grow in different directions and don't stay stagnant. The more versatile you are, the more people will seek your expertise and your products or services. Put another way, have the ability to do or offer more than one thing and your sources of revenue just diversified exponentially.
Facebook - Facing the Changing Social Networking Landscape
Whether you embrace the concept of social networking/marketing or not, it will happen without you. Given that the inevitable edge of progress will sweep along and empower millions of social media aficionados, and create a powerful community to be reckoned with, doesn't it make sense to get on the bandwagon now before it passes you by? Of course it does and there are some incredibly good reasons why you should consider using Facebook to promote your business (and by extension – YOU!).
These statistics will give you chills of pleasure when you break them down into potential customers. Did you know that Facebook boasts over 140 million – yup MILLION – active users. If you're reaching for a pencil to do the math on how many widgets you could sell, you'll delight in the final tally, even if you only manage to reach one quarter of those users. To borrow a line from Robin: "Holy Wow Batman!"
If
you're thinking that most of the users on Facebook are under 25 and
still going to school or college, think again. That's just a myth. The
fact of the matter is that more than half of Facebook's users are over 25 and out of school. Not only that, but they make up one of the fastest growing groups on this social networking site. That means they likely have jobs and therefore more disposable income.
Keep your marketing hat on here, because these stats mean you will
reach more people in one day than you could cold call in months.Now wait, what about the length of time people stay on the site? There isn't much use marketing/advertising on Facebook if most of the people just flit in and out to check what is going on. Hang on to your calculator here, because 2.6 BILLION minutes are spent on this site DAILY worldwide. Imagine the scope of your potential marketplace when you also consider that more than 70% of Facebook's users are outside the USA.
Here's the thing though, you really want to know if people really DO share things like files, pictures, news items, ads, blogs and games. They most definitely do share to the tune of over 700 million photos a month (think about the potential for your product pictures here); more than 4 million videos a month (think You Tube and how you could use it) and more than 15 million pieces of content are shared on a monthly basis. If you have unique, catchy and humorous content the potential share factor would be phenomenal.
We know all this stuff because we have researched it for you and have made it our business to help you run YOUR business. To that end we're excited to offer you three social networking packages designed with your needs in mind: one beginners who just want to test the waters; an intermediate package with just a bit more help and services than our beginners program, and the full package for those already aware of the significant benefits of social media marketing and who want to get right down to business.
Social media marketing offers you and your business that extra special edge for a good price and a good return on your investment. Our package prices start from $180 and we also offer monthly maintenance of your social media sites too. We've got you covered in more ways than one.
Contact us today for more information on our brand new and exciting social media marketing packages, designed for these tough economic times as a viable and valuable alternative to regular advertising.
Linda Belan - Your Outsource Solutions, LLC
Tel: 330.871.4848
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