Are you going to let the “Credit Crunch” crunch you? Even though the present negative press and media coverage is enough to make you pack up and head for the hills – don’t! Or, burying your head in the sand isn’t going to help either – you need to take some positive action!

In ignorance, many companies pull the plug on their marketing budgets when times get tough – but that is very short sighted. Why is your business in decline? It’s because you have less clients, or your current clients are spending less.

So what is the solution?

Yes, you need more clients or encourage those you work with to spend more with you. As a marketing company, we often have people come to us when they are in trouble. Through months or possibly years of neglect of their sales pipeline, they have reached difficultly where their cash flow dries up, and their forward forecasts will no longer gain them credit with their bankers. That’s such an awful place to reach! So, please learn from other’s mistakes and concentrate your efforts on sales and marketing.

So – how’s your sales pipeline?

Have you dedicated sufficient man hours or staff to ensure that new business will continue to flow your way? It’s highly recommended to introduce new practices in the current climate and here are a few suggestions to get you going:

1. Re-educate your sales staff to the new demands of business under the Credit Crunch i.e. you are going to have to negotiate harder than before and deliver more
2. Re-evaluate your current spend on marketing and where possible increase it
3. Adapt new methods of lead generation and find new sources
4. Network with increased intensity amongst your clients, prospects, collaborators, partners, suppliers and competitors
5. Rekindle your relationship with current clients and ensure you are getting your share of business if other suppliers are involved
6. Tighten your credit control to ensure constant cash flow
7. Take fewer financial risks than before, and if possible, increase the level of deposits on orders to spread your risk or costs (if applicable)
8. Introduce something new (Product or service) to make sure your visibility levels remain high with current and potential clients
9. Automate your sales pipeline using a CRM (Customer Relationship Management) system like www.salesforce.com – so you never ever miss another lead or opportunity, and you can track your sales pipeline accurately
10. Ensure that you confirm at least 30% of this quarter’s pipeline – more if possible
11. Ensure you are using the internet to your advantage using Search Engine Optimisation, Web 2 practices such as blogging, and raise your presence in social networking and book-marking sites such as Digg, Reddit, StumbleUpon, Facebook etc

Watch the video related to marketting

Visit BusinessEnglishPod.com to view and download more videos on Business English for ESL. This episode of Video Vocab introduces 10 commonly used English vocabulary related to the marketing Marketing, Advertising, Brand, Launch, Consumer, Market research, Brand Identity, Public Relations or PR, Position and Campaign.

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Objective Marketing is run by Robert W Ward, a highly experienced UK marketing expert.

One of the most vital aspects of this recent marketing concept which every business owner should be aware of is that it’s completely free. With the right idea, intuition and planning; viral marketing on social networking websites can return thousands of client prospects to any business website.

Social networking website, as the name suggests, are networks of people and friends who use the Internet to communicate, socialise and share, all through one website. Common websites of this nature are Myspace, Facebook, Bebo and many others.

These websites can be utilized through viral marketing methods; that is the concept of providing marketing material which propagates itself to many other people by giving an incentive for this to occur. For today’s Internet audience this incentive is usually interesting, entertaining and more commonly, not related to the business involved.

This may sound confusing but it’s the system of these networking websites which allows this technique to become effective. For example if a business finds a video which could become popular. If this video is interesting, entertaining or both, it will entice viewers to pass it onto their friends to share it. By adding your website link or marketing message into that video as a footer, or maybe adding your URL to the video description, your business details are being passed wherever the video is sent. This is what makes viral marketing on social networking websites so powerful for businesses of any size.

One important factor must always be taken into account for successful viral marketing and that’s to not flood the media with your material. Journalists, the media and members of the public will value your contributions much more if every one of them has a sense of strong content and a good angle. Distributing viral releases or PR as much as you can will result in people devaluing your presence if the content isn’t worthwhile.

Some websites such as Myspace also offer profiles which can be used to the same effect. Making a profile for your business allows you to add people all over the world as friends, who can see your profile and therefore any marketing message you choose to present. However an interesting, unique angle is often required to make the most effective use of this method. For example using an interesting, make-believe character as the profile owner or offering another, more attention-grabbing incentive for visiting your website.

Should you get professional assistance with social networking campaigns? That’s the question many businesses will ask. Managing director of SCD Marketing Scott Chapman explains:

“One of the great benefits of viral marketing on social networks and anywhere else is that it’s 100% free and can provide fantastic results. Good marketing agencies do have the Public Relations and marketing knowledge to get the right angle for your material, which will result in the most publicity. Whether a person chooses management for their viral campaigns depends on the situation they are in but if the budget is there then I’d certainly recommend looking into it.”

Watch the video related to marketting

Visit BusinessEnglishPod.com to view and download more videos on Business English for ESL. This episode of Video Vocab introduces 10 commonly used English vocabulary related to the marketing Marketing, Advertising, Brand, Launch, Consumer, Market research, Brand Identity, Public Relations or PR, Position and Campaign.

Help answer the question about marketting

About Author

SCD Marketing is a UK agency specialising in marketing assessments, campaigns and viral projects. http://www.scdmarketing.co.uk. For more information E-mail Scott at scott@scdmarketing.co.uk.

The return on investment for the engagement of MJH Group for Small business marketing is based on the following;

Business Growth

• Increased sales and profit from effective strategy and campaign outcomes

swers.com.au/”>Marketing Strategy

• The insight and direction provided by our strategic recommendations

• Provision of a documented strategic marketing plan which acts as the blue print for the successful marketing of your business

• Allowing you to proceed with confidence

• A planned and structured approach to marketing success

Campaign Outcomes

• Effective communication of your brand and offer

• Generate awareness in the market to achieve

• New customer acquisition

• A greater share of wallet from existing customers

• Increased sales and business growth

Commercialisation

• Assess the viability of new products or services

• Develop and implement strategies for the introduction or relaunch of products and services to provide commercial success

Direct Bottom Line Savings

• Direct Bottom Line Savings due to effective marketing management

• Measuring the ROI of promotions and campaigns to determine effectiveness

• Customer focus reducing the risk of ineffective promotion or campaigns

• Redirection of marketing investment into areas with the greatest return

Effective Brand Management

• Long term business growth through the ongoing and positive development of your brand in the marketplace

Effective Positioning

• Identifying the positioning strategy and building a strong market position to insulate against competition and the threat of new entrants

• Maintaining the desired position of your business in the market place

Communication

• Effective communication via regular meetings and easy to follow project plans to ensure you are kept informed and up to date on the progress of activities throughout the life of the program

Peace of Mind

• Experienced marketing professionals providing peace of mind that the marketing program is taken care of: you have one less thing to worry about

• MJH Group is transparent in our selection of clients to ensure no conflict of interest during engagements

• A marketing resource dedicated to the growth and development of your business.

For more details visit our site:

http://www.marketinganswers.com.au/

Watch the video related to marketting

Visit BusinessEnglishPod.com to view and download more videos on Business English for ESL. This episode of Video Vocab introduces 10 commonly used English vocabulary related to the marketing Marketing, Advertising, Brand, Launch, Consumer, Market research, Brand Identity, Public Relations or PR, Position and Campaign.

Help answer the question about marketting

About Author

MJH Group Customer Understanding assists companies who want to improve customer relationships and find opportunities for business growth in the customer and prospect base.