Caryl Felicetta of Single Throw Internet Marketing recently wrote an article in their marketing blog noting steps you can take to improve your bottomline in this tough economy. They’re worth repeating…
- Brush off your “UVP” – Your Unique Value Proposition, sometimes called Unique Selling Position, is where all your marketing and messaging starts from. It’s how you differentiate yourself or company from your competition. If you can’t tell the difference, your customer won’t be able to either.
- Market Where Your Customers Are – Seems simple enough. But where are your customers? I can pretty much guarantee in this day and age they are ONLINE! If your website is still the one your extremely smart and talented nephew that had a computer and Frontpage built for you, it’s time to make a change. Your website IS MARKETING and likely viewed by more customers and prospects than your Yellow Page ad or that ad you ran in a business journal once or twice last year. Don’t know where your customers are looking? Then get out to a networking event and talk to them!!! You still need to be in front of people offline!
- Clean Out Your Sock Drawer – What? You mean procrastinate? NOOOOoooo. I mean look at what you have, what works and what doesn’t. Those fuzzy argyle socks you bought a few years ago really don’t go with your business suit. And those socks with the holes in the toes, you were going to sew up the holes? If you haven’t done it already, you won’t. They are taking up space. Get rid of them. Stick with what works and make room for new ideas, or even new staff members.
- Learn and Train – Now’s the time to improve your skills – especially your sales skills. Take a sales or marketing course. Read a few business, sales, or marketing books. There’s plenty of old concepts you’ve yet to master, and certainly new ones waiting in the wings.
If I were adding a fifth item it would be stop wasting time. The 4 items above are Business 101. If you haven’t considered them, you’re already behind. But the good news is you can always start. So what are you waiting for?
