"No one lives long enough to learn everything they need to learn starting from
scratch. To be successful, we absolutely, positively have to find people who have already
paid the price to learn the things that we need to learn to achieve our goals."
Brian Tracy
If you are close to Paducah and want to learn how to grow your business with the Internet, come to my almost free seminar (TODAY) at the Pasta House.
Thursday Jan 15th at noon.
This article was written by my friend a Wizard of Ads Partner Chuck McKay. It has some very timely info.
Do People Spend Money During a Recession?
Will they it them with you?
by Chuck McKay
I came across an interesting statement last week: "Over the past 45 years, Consumer spending went up -- not down -- during each economic downturn." Source: DDB Needham Worldwide, “Advertising in Recessionary Times,” October 1990 updated subsequently.
Consumer spending goes up in uncertain economic times? That certainly runs contrary to conventional wisdom. However, Joel Libava offers an explanation in his blog post of January 23, 2008, “The R Word and Economic Woes — The World Will Go On”
He says: “It’s hard to deny that we’re in (or going in to) an economic downturn. During this economic downturn, the world won’t stop spinning, consumers won’t stop spending, and people will still go into businesses of their own.”
Joel provides an example of a real out-of-work couple, considering purchasing a franchise, and discussing their own feelings about downsizing, concluding “Once a great and meaningful service is provided to a consumer, it is really hard for that consumer to give that great and meaningful service up. Yes, consumers will tighten their belts, and back off from some extravagant spending. But when it comes to time saving products and services such as house cleaning, you will be hard pressed to find folks willing to give it up. Really.”
The reality is that people will continue to spend during a recession, but its more important than ever to persuade them to spend those dollars with you. Where do you start? "Great and meaningful service" sounds right to me.
And, don't forget, any gains you make in market share while your competitors are hunkering down and waiting for things to get better, will be multiplied when the economy does improve.
Wouldn't you spend a few dollars more promoting your business for a bigger slice of a smaller pie now, when it will ensure a bigger slice of a bigger pie soon?
from Small Business Trends
Chuck also wrote a review of my book Get Big Results From Your Small Ad Budget. That book and 12 Steps to a Better Website sell for $30. This weeks special $15 for both books - Contact Me.
Get BIG Results From Your Small Ad Budget
More Bang for your Marketing Buck
by Chuck McKay
A lot of marketing books assume that advertisers are already marketing their products and services, and advise changes in strategy and re-allocation of resources. Very few are written for businesses so small or so new that they have no marketing plans to modify.
Clay Campbell has gathered in one collection some of his best on-line columns into a a book for just such small companies – Get BIG Results From Your Small Ad Budget.
Clay is a good-natured, plain-spoken country boy from Western Kentucky. He doesn't come off as the typical successful business person, let alone an accomplished marketing consultant. He's both. And he's very good at what he does.
I've mentioned that each of the chapters of Get BIG Results From Your Small Ad Budget started as an article. This is a collection of Clay's well-thought-out advice – specific real issues for real businesses.
Some of his topics include:
- If you're just starting out and you have no money.
- A way to market if you have no money.
- Five words to avoid in your ads.
- Do you have a guarantee?
- Things I learned from my visit to Sewell Cadillac in Dallas.
Get BIG Results From Your Small Ad Budget draws from Clay's experiences as the owner of several successful small businesses, as well as his expertise in website development and search engine optimization.
- You'll learn how to create positive word-of-mouth, and how to buy it.
- You'll learn how to raise awareness and ranking of your web site.
- And, you'll learn how to build a huge database of e-mail customers with a simple e-mail newsletter.
All in all, Clay offers over 100 ideas you can put to work immediately to grow your customer base and improve cash flow.
Get BIG Results From Your Small Ad Budget is an audiobook. Pop it in the CD player and make your drive time productive. Want to verify something specific? Wizard Academy Press includes a written copy of the complete text in booklet format.
How good is Clay's advice?
He's my friend, and a generous man. I have no doubt he would have sent me a complementary copy if I'd asked for it. I paid full retail for mine. Its that good.
At only $12.95, can you afford not to own a copy?
Perhaps now would be a good time to have a complimentary meeting with a Wizard of Ads Partner. Links to their websites and blogs are listed down the right side of The Wizard Times. Hundreds of their articles with free insightful advice can been seen at www.americansmallbusiness.com 2009 would be a great year to attend a class at the Wizard Academy 21st Century Business School in Austin Texas. What is the Wizard Academy?
See you next week.
Clay Campbell
Wizard of Ads
PS. Need help to attract more customers and grow your business?
