Small Business, Marketing and Dealing with Tough Economic Times
A man lived by the side of the road and sold hot dogs. He was hard of hearing, so he had no radio or computer. He had trouble with his eyes, so he read no newspapers, he didn’t watch television. He didn’t know much about the outside world, but he sold good hot dogs.
He put up a sign on the highway telling how good they were. he had a web site built. He stood by the side of the road and cried “Buy a hot dog, folks!” And people bought and bought and bought.
He increased his meat and roll orders. He bought a bigger stove to take care of his growing trade. He got his son home from university to help him. He hired a hotdog chef.
But then something happened.
His son said “Dad, haven’t you been listening to the radio? Haven’t you been reading the newspapers? Haven’t you been watching the television? There’s a credit crisis. If money stays tight, we are bound to have bad business!
There may be a big recession coming on! You’d better prepare for poor trade!”
Whereupon the father thought “Well, my son has gone to university. He reads the papers and listens to the radio and television, and he ought to know”.
So the father cut down his meat and roll orders. He took down his advertising signs and turned off his web site. And he no longer bothered to stand on the side of the highway crying “Buy a hot dog, folks!”
And his hot dog sales plummeted almost overnight.’
“You’re right son,” the father said, “We’re certainly headed for a recession!”
The moral of the story is…
History has proven companies that maintain or increase their advertising investments in periods of economic downturn increase their sales and share of market, both during and after the downturn.
Here are the facts:
• Maintaining or increasing advertising budget levels during economic downturns may be necessary in terms of protecting market position vis-a-vis forward looking competitors.
• If a company fails to maintain its “Share of Mind” during an economic downturn, current and future sales are jeopardized. Maintaining “Share of Mind” costs much less than rebuilding it later on.
• If during an economic downturn you maintain a strong advertising presence while your competitor cuts his budget, you will automatically increase your “Share of Mind.”
• Advertising through both boom and down times sustains the necessary brand recognition.
Economic downturns reward the aggressive advertiser and penalize the timid one. Maintaining a company’s advertising during an economic downturn will give the image of corporate stability within a chaotic business environment, and give the advertiser the chance to dominate the advertising media.
During an economic downturn, a strong advertising/marketing effort enables a firm to solidify its customer base, take business away from less aggressive competitors, and position itself for future growth during the recovery.
When times are good, you should advertise; when times are bad, you MUST advertise.
Advertising in an economic downturn should be regarded not as a drain on profits, but as a contributor to profits and insurance for the future.
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Sphere: Related ContentLooking for a business for sale ?
With the uncertain economic climate it make sense to investigate owning your own business.
Although running your own business can be very hard work, your future is very much in your hands. With the risks involved often go the rewards.
According to the ABS, in 2006 there were over 1.12 million small business in Australia employing a total of over 2.5 million people.
Small business is an attractive option for those who want to leave the corporate grind and build an asset that they can pass on to generations.
If you are looking for a business for sale, visit business2sell.com.au
This web site is for buyers, sellers and business brokers. Categories include food, retail, automotive, transport and every other imaginable category. There are businesses for sale there at all levels of investment. Some franchise style businesses are also available.
Business2Sell.com.au is 100% free website for business brokers. Brokers can join the service and add unlimited businesses.
If you are and owner selling your business, a 3 month listing is just $45. Note that at the moment business2sell.com.au are running a special offer. If you get a listing with business2sell for three months, they will run your listing for unlimited time or until it is sold.
As a buyer, you can search by location, business type and keyword. You can also search by price range.
So if you are looking to buy a business, sell a business or if you are a business broker, visit business2sell.com.au today.
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Establishing a Unique Selling Proposition
Your brand image is primarily an emotional construct. Emotion is probably always more powerful in swaying people than reason, but people like to be able to rationalise their choices. This is where awareness of another advertising theory - the USP - can be helpful to you.
The USP, or unique selling proposition, formula was developed by Rosser Reeves, an ex-copywriter who became head of the Ted Bates agency in New York. He wrote an excellent book, largely dealing with this theory but also covering other aspects of advertising, called Reality in Advertising.
To establish your USP, you compare your product or service with your competitors. Then you determine one feature you have which no one else can offer. This is your unique selling proposition. It is this which you must promote single mindedly.
A 1987 issue of Marketing Week, the British trade paper, gave a wonderful example of how little the average marketing executive understands the phrases he deploys with such gay inconsequence. The subject was ‘Store credit cards’. A bank executive said: The whole point of a Marks & Spencer, Boots, Dixons or even Fortnum & Mason card is to bring people into the store - and to provide a bit of a LISP’ (my italics).
How a credit card can be a unique selling proposition when the same facility is offered by any number of retailers is difficult to comprehend. It reminds one of people who refer to things as being ‘rather’ unique, or ‘fairly’ unique. Here are some typical USPs:
‘Cleans your breath while it cleans your teeth.’
Colgate toothpaste. ‘The too good to hurry mint.’ Murraymints. ‘There’s more for your life at Sears.’ Sears Roebuck. ‘It ain’t fancy but it’s good.’ Horn & Hardarts. ‘The mint with the hole.’ Polo Mints. ‘It takes a tough man to make a tender chicken.’ Perdue Chicken
And, finally, another gentleman in the chicken business: ‘It’s finger lickin’ good.’ Colonel Sanders
One of the problems with the USP is that you sometimes have to rely upon some pretty trivial points of difference to arrive at your proposition - as you can see from the list above. And although, for simple products a good USP may often supply a successful selling idea, I think it is difficult to arrive at one for complex services such as American Express or The Consumers Association.
However, comparing yourself against your competition to discover what USP may exist is a great aid to clear thinking. For example, I was able to improve results for Odhams’ Kathie Webber Cookery Club by writing a headline which was simply a personal way of expressing a USP: `My cookery cards mean you control your weight without giving up luscious food you love to eat.’ This did well in the UK, and even in France, home of gastronomy. Moreover, subsequent approaches to selling this product revolved around this original thought. ====
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