Being Creative in a Challenging Economic Environment Thursday, March 18, 2010
What do you do when you're driving to an important meeting, you have 15 minutes to get there, and you're stuck in traffic with 7 minutes left? Well you can sit there and stress and curse and ask yourself, "Why does this always happen?", or you can get creative and make a quick turn down a side street or ally and find a new way to make it work. 5 minutes late is far better than 30!
The point of this example is that when things don't go as planned, as often they don't, you have to think outside of the box if you're going to stand out from the rest and make things work for you where it has failed for others. Otherwise you're just sitting around thinking of what you could or should have done.
A perfect example of how that would apply to your business in today's struggling economy would be creative ways to market. As marketing budgets are getting smaller or non-existent, there are several very useful tools that are free or that cost very little that can get your message out to thousands, and let's face it, you need to reach as many as you can these days.
The first thing that comes to mind is social networking. The amount of free tools available online these days is amazing. What's even more amazing is the amount of people, even marketing people, out there that either don't even know about or take the time to use these tools. I know most people think of Facebook as a personal social networking leisure time activity but you'd be surprised. The creative marketer is realizing that of the 175 million Facebook users, if even 1% of them (1,750,000) are interested in what you have to offer, then you may be able to make up whatever revenue you are losing due to the recession. And that's just Facebook. New and free tools are being developed and launched virtually every day that can make a significant impact on your online marketing effort.
Another opportunity is your web presence in general. Gone are the days of just throwing a quick website up, just to say you have one when people ask. This is in no way contributing to the new business development of your company. Also, I hear a lot of people saying, "I have a really cool web site design". That's awesome, but is it getting you new business? If it's not, then how much did you spend on that "cool design" for it to get you no ROI? If you are expecting to generate an additional and steady revenue stream from the online marketplace, you have to ask yourself a few key questions. What do I want to accomplish with my website? Is it a request for info? Is it to register for a service or a request for contact? Your call to action is the most important thing on your site. Focus on that and find out the best place for it on your site. Otherwise someone will just come to your site and say, "Wow, this looks cool." and then LEAVE! That is of no benefit to you! You must be more creative than just the appeal of the design on your site. Think of it from a business perspective rather than just a design perspective.
Another thing to consider is where are you ranked in a Google search for your keywords? For example, if you offer landscaping in Denver and someone searches those keywords...According to research released by Google, over 88% of people searching do not click any search result past the 5th listing. So you have little or no chance to generate business online from people searching for your services if you are below the 5th result. Imagine if you aren't on the first page! Your competitor is getting that business. Traditional marketing methods like advertising are not working anymore, or at least to a lesser degree. I learned that selling print advertising in London over the last 2 and a half years. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not super cheap but is far more effective over time than advertising. With the amount of time people are now spending online, your presence online is key. You have the tools to make the web work for you.
Thinking outside of the box is ultimately what sets trends in history. To give just 1 example, when classical music gave way to jazz, jazz to rock and roll, and rock and roll to rap and hiphop, it was because people were getting creative and saying, "out with the old, in with the new". Sure they may have been questioned or laughed at in the beginning. But in the end they set a new trend and developed something to a new level. This goes for anything from business to technology to things in the medical field and art. The question is, in this struggling economy, will your business be "out with the old" or "in with the new"?
The point of this example is that when things don't go as planned, as often they don't, you have to think outside of the box if you're going to stand out from the rest and make things work for you where it has failed for others. Otherwise you're just sitting around thinking of what you could or should have done.
A perfect example of how that would apply to your business in today's struggling economy would be creative ways to market. As marketing budgets are getting smaller or non-existent, there are several very useful tools that are free or that cost very little that can get your message out to thousands, and let's face it, you need to reach as many as you can these days.
The first thing that comes to mind is social networking. The amount of free tools available online these days is amazing. What's even more amazing is the amount of people, even marketing people, out there that either don't even know about or take the time to use these tools. I know most people think of Facebook as a personal social networking leisure time activity but you'd be surprised. The creative marketer is realizing that of the 175 million Facebook users, if even 1% of them (1,750,000) are interested in what you have to offer, then you may be able to make up whatever revenue you are losing due to the recession. And that's just Facebook. New and free tools are being developed and launched virtually every day that can make a significant impact on your online marketing effort.
Another opportunity is your web presence in general. Gone are the days of just throwing a quick website up, just to say you have one when people ask. This is in no way contributing to the new business development of your company. Also, I hear a lot of people saying, "I have a really cool web site design". That's awesome, but is it getting you new business? If it's not, then how much did you spend on that "cool design" for it to get you no ROI? If you are expecting to generate an additional and steady revenue stream from the online marketplace, you have to ask yourself a few key questions. What do I want to accomplish with my website? Is it a request for info? Is it to register for a service or a request for contact? Your call to action is the most important thing on your site. Focus on that and find out the best place for it on your site. Otherwise someone will just come to your site and say, "Wow, this looks cool." and then LEAVE! That is of no benefit to you! You must be more creative than just the appeal of the design on your site. Think of it from a business perspective rather than just a design perspective.
Another thing to consider is where are you ranked in a Google search for your keywords? For example, if you offer landscaping in Denver and someone searches those keywords...According to research released by Google, over 88% of people searching do not click any search result past the 5th listing. So you have little or no chance to generate business online from people searching for your services if you are below the 5th result. Imagine if you aren't on the first page! Your competitor is getting that business. Traditional marketing methods like advertising are not working anymore, or at least to a lesser degree. I learned that selling print advertising in London over the last 2 and a half years. Search Engine Optimization (SEO) is not super cheap but is far more effective over time than advertising. With the amount of time people are now spending online, your presence online is key. You have the tools to make the web work for you.
Thinking outside of the box is ultimately what sets trends in history. To give just 1 example, when classical music gave way to jazz, jazz to rock and roll, and rock and roll to rap and hiphop, it was because people were getting creative and saying, "out with the old, in with the new". Sure they may have been questioned or laughed at in the beginning. But in the end they set a new trend and developed something to a new level. This goes for anything from business to technology to things in the medical field and art. The question is, in this struggling economy, will your business be "out with the old" or "in with the new"?
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