Winking in The Dark

Doing business without advertising is like winking at a girl in the dark. You know what you are doing, but nobody else does. That quote from Stuart Henderson points out why you should never be too busy or too cash-strapped to advertise your business during slow economic times.á Your budget may be tight, but the one thing youátrulyácannot affordáis toástop marketing your firm,áinágood times or bad.á A study by McGraw Hill of 600 businesses determined that thoseácompanies that held steady or increasedátheirámarketing saw revenueáincreases during and after the recession. Another study showed that businesses that engagedáin advertising during a recession increased their market shareá2.5 times.á Are you thinking of waiting till the economy is fully back on its feet to begin advertising again?á Don't make that mistake. Eighty percent of businesses that waited out the recession gained zero percent of market share, whileátheir competitors pulled ahead of them.á During hard economic times, the public becomes more choosey.á With so many enterprises closing their doors, if you pull back advertising the public might easily get the idea that you are in bunker mentality, struggling to hang on through the storm... or they may think you've gone out of business altogether. Clients need to hear from you or at least hear good things about you firm, especially when they may be struggling too. Advertising your firmálets them know that yes, you are still there and still readyáto serve them. What is a cost-effective way to do that?ááMake the best use of the Internet, and ensure thatáevery communicationáyou haveáwith the publicáisáhigh-quality andáuseful.ááKeep in mind, marketing your business does not have to be expensive, but it has to be done. Without it, you may as well be winking in the dark.