On my Business Owners and Entrepreneurs – Transition Guy Podcast I interview some of the most successful global business leaders. The tips they give us are invaluable. I am a business coach with over 30 years business experience. I have long standing clients both here and in the US who I help to scale up their companies. I’d like to share a bit of how I do that. A lot of the work I do with my clients is around their marketing. We look at how a marketing and sales strategy is crucial to your business.
Sales and marketing is critical to your business
We’re currently in recession where we have seen markets around the world go into economic decline. What does that mean for you? A number of your clients may have started to shrink their spending with you because they are not making as much money as they did in the past. You may not have the abundance of leads coming through either via referrals or other strategies. What does that mean? This means that you need a marketing plan and a sales strategy which specifically holds the market downturn at the fore.
How to structure a marketing plan in an economic downturn
How many of you have restructured your marketing plan this year to accommodate a downturn? If you haven’t then you are making a big mistake. Many people reduce their marketing in an economic downward cycle. In fact in an economic downturn you should be increasing your marketing because you need new customers. As a business you need new customers to stand still, let alone get ahead. If you don’t market and get those new customers, your business is going backwards. Based on inflationary costs and everything, the chances are if you’re moving backwards, you’re moving towards losing money. That’s not sustainable, especially with all the incurred costs, rising inflation that have been caused by COVID.
Supply chain issues
You may also have supply chain and staff issues. In this instance don’t get caught out with ‘guilt marketing’ where you do some basic social media marketing, blogging or advertising but don’t question the results from it. If you are working with agencies, don’t have blind trust in the agency. They may not deliver the results that you want. As an entrepreneur, you have got to take ownership. Take control of your marketing and your sales strategy if you want your business to succeed. If you have an in-house team you must also take ownership and make sure they are working on the right strategies. Do not delegate the marketing at such a crucial point in your business while navigating a difficult economic marketplace.
Where are your leads coming from
When considering your marketing strategy, work out where your leads come from. The majority of people get their leads through referrals or via the internet. The biggest source of information today is Google. Are you on Google and are you visible on Google? So many websites don’t rank on Google or are blocked from indexing because they are not properly structured. The content is weak, it doesn’t conform to Google standards.
Think deeply about what your marketing strategy needs to be
Are you playing in the right space? If you don’t understand marketing, become acquainted with the basics. A good book to read is by Marcus Sheridan called, “They Ask, You Answer.” It will change your mindset around the marketing space. Most sales today are done a long time before the customer actually makes contact with you, providing you have the right content strategy and the right touch points in place. Make sure that you are ranking on google for the things that people are searching for in relation to your service, product or whatever you offer.
Think marketing first, sell second
Understand that the job of your sales team is not to be going out and getting leads. Their job is out there to convert the leads, which should be generated by your marketing engine. If you get it right, your marketing becomes your sales engine because it will do the conversion for you.
To listen to the Transition Guy podcasts where I interview a range of well known figures within the business world
If you want to discuss meeting your marketing strategy – get in touch here
Remember, failing to learn is learning to fail.
