As business owners, listening to the media is not always the best use of our time. Should we focus on ‘rampant inflation’, the ‘spiralling cost of living’ and the fact that the average domestic energy bill will be £2,800 a year or should we plan, strategise and outperform our competitors? A recent article by the Harvard Business Review reported that during the recessions of 1980, 1990, and 2000, 17% of the 4,700 public companies faired very badly. Most of these went bankrupt, went private or were acquired. Here is the interesting part. 9% of companies blossomed and outperforming the competition at at least 10 in sales and profit.
Not only did the 9% do well but their earnings climbed steadily throughout the downturn and continued to rise afterward.
Here is the kicker. Among the companies that stagnated or did poorly in the aftermath of a recession, few had made contingency plans, they all switched to survival mode, keeping quiet, making deep and harmful cuts to their businesses and reacted defensively. The research shows that battening down the hatches and hoping for the best and that the storm passes quickly is fraught with issues. Those that plan and push forwards come out of the other end a lot stronger.
Now is the time to reach out more to customers, to communicate and not be in the shadows. Being ‘visible’ in the next 12 months is going to be very important. Be seen and be vocal.
Here are some ideas for you to take forward. If you are stuck call me on 07718 081 841 or email me personally at mark@freshdigitalmedia.co.uk. It doesn’t matter if you are doing this yourself or outsourcing it or getting us to do it. The point is I am happy to advise so don’t hesitate.
Leverage your existing technology and/or adopt new technology
- Think about any subscriptions you are paying for. Are you leveraging them or using them enough? Have you dabbled with email marketing and have a subscription with MailChimp or another provider? If so, send out a regular newsletter to your clients that is full of advice and positivity. It acts as a touchpoint and reminds them you are still there.
- Are you using social media to get your message out there? The key to social media is consistency so plan some posts and keep chipping away. Updates, company news, hints and tips, testimonials, weekly/monthly round ups of what is happening in your industry are all good examples of keeping your name out there. Remember to tag in relevant people as their audience will see your posts as well. Those companies feeling the pinch or those that are hoping all of this will go away will post less and therefore be more visible.
- It is a good time to upskill and make better use of technology. Think of how you can be more efficient. There are a lot of tools that free and really so help you reduce costs and increase efficiency. If you manage projects and have remote workers then www.app.Asana.com is a free project management tool to use to collaborate and manage projects. Don’t forget as well to use all the Google tools available to you. With a simple Gmail account you get 15GB of free storage and access to sharable spreadsheets, documents, presentations and so much more so why not use it.
Good luck as we start a new year. Make 2023 a great one.
