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Don’t be Crunched by the Credit Crunch – Upgrade Your Marketing!

Are you going to let the “Credit Crunch” crunch you? Even though the present negative press and media coverage is enough to make you pack up and head for the hills – don’t! Or, burying your head in the sand isn’t going to help either – you need to take some positive action!

In ignorance, many companies pull the plug on their marketing budgets when times get tough – but that is very short sighted. Why is your business in decline? It’s because you have less clients, or your current clients are spending less.

So what is the solution?

Yes, you need more clients or encourage those you work with to spend more with you. As a marketing company, we often have people come to us when they are in trouble. Through months or possibly years of neglect of their sales pipeline, they have reached difficultly where their cash flow dries up, and their forward forecasts will no longer gain them credit with their bankers. That’s such an awful place to reach! So, please learn from other’s mistakes and concentrate your efforts on sales and marketing.

So – how’s your sales pipeline?

Have you dedicated sufficient man hours or staff to ensure that new business will continue to flow your way? It’s highly recommended to introduce new practices in the current climate and here are a few suggestions to get you going:

Re-educate your sales staff to the new demands of business under the Credit Crunch i.e. you are going to have to negotiate harder than before and deliver more

Re-evaluate your current spend on marketing and where possible increase it

Adapt new methods of lead generation and find new sources

Network with increased intensity amongst your clients, prospects, collaborators, partners, suppliers and competitors

Rekindle your relationship with current clients and ensure you are getting your share of business if other suppliers are involved

Tighten your credit control to ensure constant cash flow

Take fewer financial risks than before, and if possible, increase the level of deposits on orders to spread your risk or costs (if applicable)

Introduce something new (Product or service) to make sure your visibility levels remain high with current and potential clients

Automate your sales pipeline using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system like www.salesforce.com – so you never ever miss another lead or opportunity, and you can track your sales pipeline accurately

Ensure that you confirm at least 30% of this quarter’s pipeline – more if possible

Ensure you are using the internet to your advantage using Search Engine Optimisation, Web 2 practices such as blogging, and raise your presence in social networking and book-marking sites such as Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook etc

Downtown Dallas from the Flower Market


Image by Stuck in Customs
I have this promise here to upload one new unique photo per day. This has turned out to be a bad promise, because I mess it up about 10 times a year. Before you get to my daily shot (this one from a little-known flower market from the backside of Dallas), I wanted to do something a little different for those of you that are just getting on Twitter for the first time.

I’ll give you all a list of interesting photographers to follow. If you guys have more suggestions, send me a message at @treyratcliff. Note this is not my list of top 10 photographers in the world… just cool people that make interesting Twitter updates. I’ll try to make a new list every month or so…since it’s hard to get to know 50 people at once, I’ll roll them out slowly!

#1 – @stevesimon – This guy cracks me up. I first heard him on the TWIP (This Week in Photography) Podcast. He has a wonderful sense of humor, and I generally agree with everything he says. I’m putting him first on my list because I wish more photographers were like him.

#2 – @thomashawk – Who doesn’t know this guy? He’s nice as heck, and his Type A personality keeps his overachievement in high-gear. We’re also in agreement about many of the bad things about Flickr… it’s so close to being an even better service!

#3 – @kk – Kris Krug is a great photographer. There is something creative and nice about his work.

#4 – @scottbourne – I like Scott even though he made a snide comment about me on TWIP. I was mentioned on their site of the week and he’s not much of a fan of Creative Commons, I can tell. But he’s still a pretty nice guy and he takes great pics of birds.

#5 – @dcjill – The great Jill Greenberg! She’s protected her updates… but maybe if we all request, she will give in and show us behind the wizard’s curtain.

#6 – @scottkelby – This is another guy everyone probably knows, especially if they watch Photoshop User TV. I was looking for his sidekicks Matt and Dave on Twitter — anyone know their @’s?

#7 – @chasejarvis – An amazingly cool photographer. You can tell he is cool just from his portfolio.

#8 – @mostlylisa – She’s a humble photographer that has a really nice net presence. She also gave me the name of the guy that did her portfolio website, so I owe her one!

#9 – @jessicaclaire – Hey a wedding photographer! She’s a cool gal with a nice sense of style about her photography.

#10 – @alexlindsay – He is smart as a whip and is very active on Twitter. He’s one of those cool people to follow because you find out something that’s useful in real time!

Remember, if you have suggestions for next month’s list, be sure to leave them below or send me a twitter message!

from the blog at www.stuckincustoms.com

Joe from www.perfect-email-marketing.com discusses how businesses can use email marketing as a powerful method for boosting your online business and skyrocketing your ROI.
Video Rating: 4 / 5

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Tagged as: Credit, Crunch, Crunched, Don’t, Marketing, Upgrade

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