Jumpstart Your Business

Don’t let these tough economic times get you down. As an entrepreneur and small business owner, there are lots of reasons why you can stay afloat and swim to success while your bigger kin keep floundering and sinking. Here are ten tips to help you succeed in 2009:

When Money is Tight and the Economy Slow, YOU need A Maestro with the Right Music Playing a Tune that is Memorable

Like the music that flows from the orchestra, Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) means all your company’s identity, its brand, key product and corporate messages, positioning , visual images and sales are coordinated across all marketing communication (marcom) venues. It means your PR materials say the same thing as your direct mail campaign; your advertising has the same feel as your home page on your web site. Your sales rep’s talk matches your message.

My mind is filled with scenes from Hollywood trying to depict what Agur, the author of the observation below depicted – and sometimes they capture a whiff of this kind of stateliness.

As we head into 2009, paying attention to marketing and PR is very important to your survival. When it comes to promoting your products and services, you need a a plan of attack from the marketing and public relations angle. Here are 5 simple steps to keep business coming through the door in these slow times:

Now more than ever, you need to illustrate your unique value to your marketplace, those who are able to and will contemplate acquiring your products and services. With so many options, and all the talk about a down economy, your business needs to have a very compelling and unique strategy.

If your business objectives are all over the place, then your marketplace has a harder time understanding who you are and what your company stands for and delivers. Focusing on your strengths allows your current and prospective customers who are looking for those particular and unique attributes to find your company quickly and to engage with you.

Your business needs both a vision statement as well as a mission statement.
One looks at the future and the other focuses on the present. Here is the difference:

A repeat customer can be your most valuable asset in a small business. You have the opportunity to create a repeat customer from every new customer. You can reach your sales numbers by getting your customers to spend more on other items you offer. Here are 5 things to keep in mind to get repeat customers.

As Xmas ends and as we move to a new year. let us remember that loyalty is something that we breed.

Customers are like pet lions, they may be forced to move to someplace else, but the moment you show up, they climb all over you.

Love knows no limits. Get back in touch with old customers. You won”t regret it.

If you want to get new ideas, listen to your customers. After all, they are the ones that you are trying to serve. If you don’t want to listen to me, listen to Richard Branson’s advice.

Secular literature supports the Biblical observation that envy and leadership are intermixed in many complex ways – suggesting that envy is often so painful an emotion for leaders that it is driven to the unconscious resulting in behaviors that undermine a leader’s ability to attract and maintain followers. Small business owners sometimes are unaware of this – envying their employees who “just show up.” They don’t have to worry about payroll. Or business debt. Or just keeping the doors open.