Filed under: marketing | Tags: bad economy, before i close my business, before i close my small business, business failure statistics, businesses close every year, businesses shut down every year, failure rate, failure statistics, how many small businesses fail every year, number of small businesses that fail, prevent business closing, prevent shutting down business, slowing economy, small business economy, small business help in bad economy, small businesses, what to do in a bad economy
Can’t blame the economy too much these days — because small businesses find they become financially unsustainable ALL OF THE TIME. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 6 in 10 businesses shut down within the first four years of operation. (Normally, what is quoted is that 90% of businesses fail in the first 4 years.)
There are lots of solutions to prevent shutting down your small business. If your business is slowing down, here are some low-cost things you can do:
- Contact existing clients/customers. Existing clients are much easier to sell to than brand new ones. Stay in front of them with email, postcards and other marketing media. Try a social media, like Facebook or LinkedIn — or some other direct campaign you haven’t tried already…like sending small gifts by mail, coupons and promotions only for existing customers.
- Add value. Is there something that you could be doing differently to add value to your solution that would increase the amount they are spending on your services or products? Only your customers know. Ask them.
- Contact former clients/customers. Find out why they left. The reason may not be what you think. Some customers may be reluctant to give you honest feedback. If you approach them with a commitment to listen deeply without judging their experience, you may be able to re-establish a relationship with clients who have discontinued doing business with you. You can also ask an independent entity to help you gather that information.
- Ask for referrals. …from friends, family, associates — but most of all, happy customers. You may have even more success if you offer an incentive for new customers to try you out that the referring person can give away as a gift– or an incentive for someone to refer you — or both.
- Find an Independent Sales Representative. …someone who would like to earn a cash commission on business referred to you. The percentage has to be high enough to justify the time the agent spends to acquire the relationship but low enough that you can afford to pay them what you’ve promised.
Have more ideas? Post them!
Filed under: branding, marketing | Tags: bad clients, bad customers, business planning, competitive analysis, get more business, good customers, i hate my clients, i hate my customers, make more sales, market position, marketing, marketing communications, marketing plan, sales, selling, selling tips
Not every customer will be a good match. The conflict might be pricing, style, process, values — you name it! When you position yourself in the market *well*, you will attract prospects that will be a better fit.
This requires 2 steps:
- careful analysis of your business, your marketplace – knowing where opportunities and competition are — and then,
- communicating/broadcasting a unique, effective message.
The results? You will find yourself spending less time on dissatisfying work and trying to sell yourself to customers who don’t want what you have.
What you can expect from t he results:
- clarity about who you are, what you do, what sets you apart from other (not “better,” but “different”)
- comfort being all of these things (authenticity and integrity), and
- faith that the “right” customers are out there
- peace – you will no longer have upset when there isn’t a match
If you need help with this process, please call 763-535-0880 for a free consultation.
Filed under: marketing | Tags: keyword optimization, keyword research, search engine marketing, search engine optimization, search engine ranking, seo, web marketing, web site marketing, website marketing
Ranking high on search engines relies on your knowledge of your search engine position – how your web site is related to all of the other sites out there cataloged on a particular search engine.
Because users are trying to find you based on keyword terms, any page that responds to the keyword terms that you select can be considered competition. Not all keyword terms that describe your business or your offering will necessarily be useful for you to optimize your site on.
This is why you must research your keywords (RYK) before you search engine optimize (SEO)!
On first instinct, many people think that researching keyword terms means typing the keyword terms into a search engine to see which sites are ranking high already on those terms. This is not the case.
To effectively research keyword terms, you must find out
- How many times a keyword term is actually being typed in by search engine users,
- How often the keyword term is being typed in, and
- How many web pages are responding to the search engine query on that keyword term.
This can only be accomplished using special software. This software calculates how useful a keyword term is to you.
Let’s bring this idea into a brick-and-mortar scenario. Suppose you own a bookstore and are looking for retail space to sell your books. You’re considering the Acme Mall and the XYZ Center. Acme Mall already has 2 bookstores. XYZ Center is approximately 40 miles from any other bookstore. Your location is like the competition for a particular keyword term.
XYZ Center looks like a better fit — but is it?
What if there aren’t very many readers in that vicinity? If this is the case, then XYZ Center is not the better choice for your business. If there are lots of readers, the XYZ Center would be a great fit. The demand for books is like the number of requests for a particular keyword term.
But what if there are a lot of readers, but they don’t buy books very often? The value of moving into the XYZ Center goes down. The frequency of book purchases is like the frequency a keyword term is typed into a search engine.
So how do you measure all of this to make the best choice?
You don’t have to. The Keyword Effectiveness Index (KEI) is the basis for determining the best fit of a particular keyword term. The higher the KEI number, the better fit there will be.
If you are interested in finding out what the KEI is for the keyword terms you are using, contact me to run a Keyword Analysis Report!
