You Get The Point

by Laura Lake

Oh my, the sky is falling and we are in an economic downturn. It’s on the news and it is in the papers. Everywhere I turn we hear of the downward spiral of our economic state. I know what you are thinking; it’s time to cut that marketing budget. Signs of recession are all around us. Let’s start slashing costs and marketing is the first to go. Makes sense, right? No! Let me explain.

Don’t you dare cut your marketing budget. That is one of the first mistakes businesses make during times of economic crisis.

It’s time to get smarter about your marketing dollar and spend it to bring results. Sounds good doesn’t it? However, I can hear you - how do you do it? If ever customer intelligence was important it’s now.

The key is to look at your marketing dollars as an investment not an expense. Use the customer knowledge that you have and implement SMART marketing during these times of financial distress.

SMART marketing consists of the following

S - Strategize
M - Maintain market spend
A - Assess and allocate the budget
R - Research your customer thoroughly
T - Target and reach out to them

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The new fresh, 2.0 front page for the family networking site, FamilyDen.com has been released. We have worked for quite some time on the re-design with site owner Matt Horne and it was a great feeling when all of the pieces came together. I would also like to add that in a matter of days our initial  SEO efforts have pulled the Familyden.com site from a non-existent status to the first couple of pages across all three major engines for popular keyword terms that are relevant to the site, and its still climbing!!

By Sharron Senter

Small businesses must be extra imaginative with their marketing efforts in order to attract customers and get them to open their wallets. Even more challenging is that most entrepreneurs have shallow pockets and shoppers are being more selective as a result of the sluggish economy and volatile stock market. The following are six proven low-cost marketing ideas that help small businesses increase sales and generate referrals, ultimately helping you build your cash cow, while spending very little.

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