I know, I know. It's not officially a recession. But it sure feels like it when the stock market graphs look like my latest EKG.
In times like these I remember when I was a little girl and my mother took me to Manhattan's Marble Collegiate Church to hear the Reverend Norman Vincent Peale talk about The Power of Positive Thinking.
He was amazing but I hadn't thought of him in years, not until we all began to feel the pinch of a terrible economy.
Small business owners, like me, blanch at the word Recession. Some of us panic. Some cut prices, cut staff. Thanks to Reverend Peale, I prefer to think about positive approaches. I start by remembering that we have a choice:
1. We can pack up our tents and go home, or
2. We can try something new.
We always pick #2.
1. I'm making myself accountable first, accountable myself to work on my next book, be more creative (in all elements of their business) for our clients and learn new things.
2. As soon as I find myself working on a new creative program, I start having fun. For some odd reason, I think about Tom Dixon, the Blendtec CEO whose "Will it blend?" videos usually go viral. In this one, he purees an iPad and it's had over 12 millions views
Great storytelling and that's always made for effective marketing.
3. Your network can be golden for you. If you're on LinkedIn, keep in touch with people you've worked with in the past, former clients, friends, relatives and people in your groups. I reach out to several people every day to see if I can be a resource for them. I help people find new positions, mention them in a post, or ask about their families. Networking is easy on Facebook and Twitter, too. It helps if you remember this: Don't just ask for something, offer something.
4. Your strategy is your Game Plan for new business. So, figure out the best ways you might be able to reach the companies you want to work with, and then write it down. I've found personal, first class mail to be very effective in generating new business, especially in industries in which we have a lot of experience, like finance, publishing automotive and tourism.
(Sometimes, I wish our new prospects had a little more experience. We recently presented a program idea to a bank, and asked them the value of an average new customer. They didn't know and so they had no idea how much they can afford to spend to get X number of new customers.)
5. The important thing is to take action! Get out of your comfort zone and do new things. It's fruitless to keep doing what you've always done if it's stopped working.
6. And, surround yourself with the best people you can afford. Hard times call for the best, the smartest, most positive people you can find.
Stay positive yourself by doing something nice for yourself every day.
Good luck and please comment and add your ideas to this list, will you?
Prior to founding Lois Geller Marketing Group (formerly known as Mason & Geller Direct), a full-service agency, Lois Geller was President of several agencies. In New York, she headed AC&R Direct, a Saatchi and Saatchi agency, and Geller Direct, a TBWA subsidiary. In Toronto, Canada, she headed up J. Walter Thompson Direct and Vickers and Benson Direct. Lois holds a Bachelor of Science Degree from Boston University and is an adjunct professor at New York University, where she has led the Direct Marketing Lecture Series and was named Professor of the Year. She has been a Dale Carnegie instructor and taught the Catalog Marketing Course for new clients and employees at Y&R. Lois has been a member of the Direct Marketing Association, the Direct Marketing Club of New York, the Healthcare Businesswomen's Association, the Financial Women's Association and the Cornell Club. She was awarded the Silver Apple Award for Lifetime Achievement in Direct Marketing, the Echo Award in direct marketing, and many RSVP
Awards in Canada.
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