I don’t know you, but I’d bet that as an entrepreneur you are a “doer” and not a “planner”.
That is a good thing. Successful people are doers. They don’t sit around day-dreaming or wishing some fairy would come along with the right numbers for the next Lotto drawing. A doer gets in there and makes something happen.
You are probably a good salesperson… maybe even a great salesperson… most entrepreneurs are. But sales isn’t marketing. And that’s where problems start.
It’s a Question of Priorities
As a businessperson, you know all about competing priorities demanding attention. Customer service. Finances. Product development. Employee development. Te list goes on and on. Marketing tends to get lost in the mob of things competing for your attention.
Then the economy throws a monkey wrench called “recession” into the mix. What do you do now?
In the current recession… just like in every previous recession, small businesses are finding it harder and harder to compete. Many small business owners are asking themselves, “How do I ‘recession-proof’ my business?”
The answer is: Do what the Chevrolet Motor Company did during the Great Depression of the thirties, make marketing your first priority! Most people don’t know that Chevrolet rose from an obscure car maker to rival Ford by the early forties because when the economy went sour and businesses were collapsing, the leaders at Chevrolet made marketing their highest priority. While everyone else was “saving money” by cutting marketing and advertising expenses, Chevrolet was gaining market share.
You can do the same thing in your market today. While your competitors are cutting their marketing costs and effort, you can leap ahead and take their market share.
No, that doesn’t mean throwing a bushel of hundred dollar bills at some ad agency.
It starts with a plan… a marketing plan.
We will start building a plan in the next article in this series.
