7 Things You Can Do To Weather The Lows Of A Business Cycle
Hey, as hard as this may be for you to swallow, business online is no different than a business on Main Street in your home town or city. We have good times and we have slow times.
It is quite obvious what we do when our eBusinesses areexperiencing the high times, we are pretty pumped up and of course very happy. When times are slow though that is a totally different story.
Many people don't understand that we do have high's and low's that is just a fact of business. It is what you do during the low's that is quite a different story and below you will find some tips which you can take and use to weather the low's:
1. Look Through Your Idea File - EVERY business owner should implement an Idea File, I don't care if you are an affiliate for a program, run an ad co-op, sell gift items, or offer a service...you NEED an IDEA FILE in your life. From time to time you are going to see something that some other business is using and you want to try. Rip it out of the magazine, print it out, write a note and include the web site address, do whatever it will take for you to remember it and put it in this file. When times are slow, go through this file and see if there is an idea from that filethat you can take and implement. If it was an eCourse then take the time and rewrite it and get it out there pulling for you. If it was an ad and the headline really got your attention, then use it and get it out there.
2. READ/LEARN - Take the time out to read an eBook that you purchased but just haven't had the chance to get to. Now is the time for it. By reading it, it does two things for you:
1. You are learning a new concept that you can turn around and use in your ebusiness.
2. Believe it or not and of course depending on the type of eBook it will spark ideas for you. If you are given an example for a specific tactic you'll be surprised at the ideas that will coming out at you. (Psst...when they hit you, always have a pencil with you so you can write them time immediately and add them to your "Idea File")
3. Customer Referrals - Go to your current customers and get the power of referrals working for you. Set up some sort of a contest or special offer for them in exchange for them helping you. Create that win/win - you'll be surprised at how well it will work for you.
4. Advertise - The idea during slow times is NOT to quit your advertising. Unfortunately when times are slow that is the first thing that we do. If you have been tracking a particular ad and it isn't pulling then revise it and keep revising until it does pull, but don't pull out all together.
5. Write Articles - You need to get exposure and drum up new business, articles are certainly one of THE most cost effective marketing tools...AND THEY WORK.
6. Joint Ventures - Find a few other eBusiness owners who target similar markets and see if you can build an alliance and do some sort of a joint project together.
7. Off Line Marketing - A biggie and nearly everyone lets this slide. Use cost effective off line marketing strategies to drum up new business. Take in a networking circle at the Chamber, place an ad in your town newspaper, do up some flyers andhand them out, coordinate a workshop of some kind. Thepossibilities are as endless with off line marketing as they are on line.
There you go, seven strategies that you can take a look at and see what you can implement today that will help drum up some new business and weather your business lows.
In all honesty, you should be using all of these tactics throughout the year, but if for some reason you aren't, well then get cracking!!
Denise Ryder is a Marketing Coach and is owner of ProfitSpace Newsletter, (
http://www.profitspace.com ). Hey, want to learn how to turn a mundane sign up process into a profit-puller for your eCourses, Reports and Newsletters? Get this free download now (
http://www.profitspace.com/book.html)
