During tough economic times, it’s easy to get discouraged by poor sales. Below is the second of ten specific things you can do starting today that will give your business the boost it needs to survive: 

Click here if you missed part 1

Focus on Existing Customers. Ads in the yellow pages, newspapers, TV, radio, or any advertising that is not directly targeted to likely customers is called shotgun advertising. While shotgun advertising has its place (telling people where you are located or building your brand, for example) during tough times you cannot afford to use it.

Don’t be fooled by advertising salesmen who promise thousands of people (in your targeted demographic they argue) will see your ad. Desperate for sales, many small businesses succumb to the promise that if enough people see the ad, someone will call. This is especially true in Internet advertising, where several hundred thousand people can see an ad before one of them results in a sale.

Cancel your shotgun advertising. Instead, focus your advertising on your current customer list. Repeat sales to past customers cost less than finding new customers, and add-on sales to current customers cost less than repeat sales.

For cost-effective marketing, offer your next “special” to your current customer list via e-mail. And offer the same special to the next customer who walks in your door.

Want to guarantee better producing ads to your customers? I’ll discuss that next week in part 3.

Tags: marketing in tough times

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