A SMALL BUSINESS IS A BIG BUSINESS IF THEY CONTINUE MARKETING
By: Recession-hit Britain is seeing big name companies making cutbacks in production and lay-offs. Uncertainty is widespread. But the country’s 4.7 million small businesses can play a key role in steering recession-hit Britain out of the downturn.
Small businesses are big business. They employ more than half of the private sector workforce. Just under half of small companies introduced new or significantly improved products in the last year too.
Having an edge is even more important in recession than in a boom. Doing nothing is not an option. Build promotion and marketing into your business strategy. A recession can be a good time to grow a business when others are cutting back and worried about survival.
And you don’t have to blow your budget on advertising alone. A cost-effective alternative is public relations. For the same cost as a two-week advertising in a local it’s possible to get several weeks worth of PR. Businesses can reach target markets through face-to-face meetings to news releases; media interviews and commentaries; special events, newsletters, web sites and blogs.
But some are put off investing in PR because of the industry’s notorious reputation for being ‘wooly’ about what their customers are getting for their money. Thankfully some PR companies are building up proper expertise in the needs of small firms. Some are even developing specially tailored fixed-price ‘what you see is what you pay for’ services that are proving very attractive to small enterprises that are looking to hold on to customers while bringing in new ones. This approach is much more closely in tune with firms’ needs than the standard ‘gold, silver and bronze’ tiered offers that are most commonly on offer.
Customers are much more likely to use companies that make an effort to communicate with them in the right way. Effective use of promotion can help to differentiate a company from competitors and create a ‘personality’ around a brand, so that customers can clearly understand the benefits of using a firm’s products and services.
Small businesses are big business. They employ more than half of the private sector workforce. Just under half of small companies introduced new or significantly improved products in the last year too.
Having an edge is even more important in recession than in a boom. Doing nothing is not an option. Build promotion and marketing into your business strategy. A recession can be a good time to grow a business when others are cutting back and worried about survival.
And you don’t have to blow your budget on advertising alone. A cost-effective alternative is public relations. For the same cost as a two-week advertising in a local it’s possible to get several weeks worth of PR. Businesses can reach target markets through face-to-face meetings to news releases; media interviews and commentaries; special events, newsletters, web sites and blogs.
But some are put off investing in PR because of the industry’s notorious reputation for being ‘wooly’ about what their customers are getting for their money. Thankfully some PR companies are building up proper expertise in the needs of small firms. Some are even developing specially tailored fixed-price ‘what you see is what you pay for’ services that are proving very attractive to small enterprises that are looking to hold on to customers while bringing in new ones. This approach is much more closely in tune with firms’ needs than the standard ‘gold, silver and bronze’ tiered offers that are most commonly on offer.
Customers are much more likely to use companies that make an effort to communicate with them in the right way. Effective use of promotion can help to differentiate a company from competitors and create a ‘personality’ around a brand, so that customers can clearly understand the benefits of using a firm’s products and services.
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