Apr

What Your Business Should Be Doing During The Recession

By Sid

B2B Internet Marketing During The Recession There’s something that has been bothering me lately.

I know that we’re technically in a recession. Every entrepreneur I know is struggling to get business. I’m sure there of some of you who read this and say, “Not me!”, but pretty much everyone I know is having a hard time of it.

One of my fellow Rotarians just closed her 95-year-old family business. A friend is turning several of her Florida properties over to the banks. Even my business has slowed down a little, as my clients put their marketing campaigns off a bit longer.

For me, the slight slowing is a good thing. It gives me a chance to think about what I’m doing, what I want to be doing, and where I’m headed with my business.

I happen to be one of those weirdo’s who enjoys B2B and B2C marketing… even more so than what I call E2C (Entrepreneur to customer). Most of the people I know who are making money online are in this E2C category – they either sell stuff to other E2C’ers (internet marketers), or they sell their stuff in niche markets, such as dog training and cat herding.

But my likes and dislikes are for another time. This post is about things you can be doing for your business during the recession.

See, one of the things I’ve been doing is to take some time every day to “critique” a B2B or B2C web site from an internet marketer’s perspective.

This is part of my short-term plan to fine-tune my skills in this area and my long-range plan to help B2B and B2C companies put the Internet to better use in the coming years. My short-term plan is simple: go through the Business Journal’s “Fastest Growing Private 100″ companies list for 2008 alphabetically. [Watch for my critiques in the coming weeks]

OMG.

What I’ve seen so far has been shocking! I feel like I’m in a time warp. I’ve traveled back to the early 1990’s when web sites started integrating “new” technology like Flash. Every – and I mean EVERY – web site I’ve looked at thus far is stuck in the early 90’s. It’s pretty scary stuff. It’s like they hired someone to design the site, then fired that person after the DOT.COM bust in the late 90’s.

I mean… some sites have “news” or “upcoming events” that are several months out of date. Nobody has a call to action. And “lead capture” mechanisms are nowhere to be found on any of the sites.

There’s little to no user interaction, although a few have links to blogs that are rarely updated or are filled with “news” about the company (press releases).

Twitter? Facebook? Digg? Nope… no social networking of any kind. Videos or audio? Well, one site (a steel manufacturing company) has this really cool clanking sound that comes up when you mouse over the links. Other than that, nobody has audio or video. And SEO (search engine optimization) is virtually non-existent.

Wow.

Three Big Steps for B2B and B2C Companies During The Recession

Here are the three steps I believe these companies can be taking during the present recession to better prepare themselves for less lean times:

1. Re-evaluate your Value Proposition.

Value Proposition for B2B and B2C companies A client and friend of mine, Carlos Dias wrote a fabulous book called “Strategic Value Innovation.” He talks about the need for companies to focus on “value innovation” instead of product innovation. That is, you should be looking ahead, evaluating trends, and determining as best you can the direction of your market.

Then, think about “where can we offer the most perceived value to our clients?” Perceived value is the key — what do THEY perceive as something of high value? For example, if you’re watching any TV today you’ll see a preponderance of ads for US car companies who are promoting the value proposition of “don’t worry if you lose your job.”

They seem to believe that people will consider this promise of paying your car loan if you lose your job as something of high value. Ford thinks people value “good gas mileage.” Toyota also believes that people value good gas mileage, but throw in “reliability” as an extra bone. Which is it?

What kind of value proposition is going to sell the most cars in the coming year? [If you have a guess, please let me know in the comment section below.]

2. Figure out where your bread is buttered.

B2B Marketing Evaluation Personally, I wasted a lot of time and energy working with solo entrepreneurs who had the “big ideas.”

I finally figured out where my bread is buttered, and it’s with forward-thinking companies who have the resources and stamina to build their businesses strategically. I know this sounds simplistic, but it’s true.

We waste a lot of time chasing after customers and clients who give us more grief than money. Once you have analyzed the trends and determined your value proposition, who are your top clients and prospects in that market? It’s easy to chase dreams. It’s much more difficult to work a well-planned strategy. As a business owner, you need to realize that your best long-term customers are those who might acknowledge the dream, and simultaneously think ahead like you.

Internet marketers know their bread is buttered by the dream chasers. That works for them. However, even they are scrambling today because the dream chasers are more reluctant than ever to spend their money. This doesn’t mean you should ignore the dream chasers – just don’t build your future on them. Instead, create something of value for the more thoughtful planners today.

Tomorrow, the dream chasers will come back in droves — to YOU — because you have established a reputation for walking the talk and providing real value.

3. Bring your internet marketing into the current century.

B2B Internet Marketing Today, internet marketing is dynamic. It’s social. Selling stuff online demands that you don’t just throw up a web site and forget about it. Your web site is part of your value proposition — it is, in fact, a key way that you can add value to your client’s experience of you. There is a HUGE opportunity that is lost on most B2B and B2C web sites… and I’m not just talking about lead generation.

We live in an information age, where people pay TOP dollar for information. Every one of these 100 fastest growing companies has resources, knowledge, and experience that can be turned into an information product. These information products aren’t simple white papers, which everyone knows are just glorified brochures anyway.

They are legitimate, valuable, and effective “how to” guides that reveal your top ideas and demonstrate your experience. People expect this today, and they’re willing to pay for valuable information and tips. Instead of laying off your marketing department, why not put them to work setting you up for the end of the recession?

They can be Tweeting, creating a presence on Facebook, and they can be creating valuable information products that you can give away or sell. One simple 30-page “how to” guide can create thousands of new prospects, hundreds of new followers, and dozens of new high-paying clients. Your little home-spun company that is barely eking by in this slowed-down economy can be suddenly at the forefront of the information marketing business. Your expertise can be turned into cold, hard cash.

It’s sad to see all this experience and expertise wasted on bad 1990’s web sites. Don’t you think?

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