Business is slow to a drag during recession, they say. It doesn’t have to be that way if you know how to explore existing business potential and be flexible in your deals and offerings.

Sure, tough economic times have major impact on buying habits. Pay attention to the shopping mall during prime shopping period. People are saving their way out of it. They focus more on value and results. Or, the time they spend to research on a product before buying increases.

The good news is, even if the recession is here to stay a bit longer, you can survive and prosper by following some of the tips below. Does recession always mean struggling to get the business going? No, don’t buy into the idea. Change your strategy and you’ll see that it isn’t a law like gravity.

Don’t Stop Your Marketing Effort… It’s the Best Advice I Could Give!

The one biggest mistake people make during recession is they focus on something else and cut not only the budget but also the time spent on marketing. While it is acceptable that you want to cut cost, spending little to no time in marketing is a mistake.

Marketing is what brings in the cash and every business depends on a good cash flow. Businesses who have been around for some time certainly have their leverage. People may still refer their friends or colleagues to the business.

However, to keep the momentum or grow, you need to get your business and its message out. Marketers need to satisfy customers, no matter the economy. And that won’t happen without marketing.

The following are some ideas to explore your business during this hard times:

1. Concentrate on the 20 That Produce the 80

Remember the Pareto principle. Twenty percent of your customers bring in 80 percent of your revenue. This number varies, it could be 20 percent that brings in 95 percent, but you get the point.

In a downturn, customers are more likely to go with a more trusted source. If you constantly build relationship with your existing customers, more power to you. Otherwise, it’s now the time to reactivate dormant accounts. Stay in touch and let them know if you are interested in working with them. Don’t hard sell and put any pressure on the first contact.

2. Spend Smarter and Diversify

By all means, don’t cut on marketing and advertising, but it’s fine to reduce budgets if appropriate. Creative marketers could use some of the low cost to free methods to keep their business out there. Think guerilla marketing.

If existing marketing efforts work fine, keep doing them but if cost is the problem consider them at smaller scales. Complement with other marketing strategies. It may work wonder with diversification.

3. Repackage for Customers with Limited Budgets

Related to the second point above, your customers or clients are also looking for ways to cut cost. When business is good and you’re busy, you may have overlook some of the smaller customers who can’t afford what you have to offer at the price point.

Consider repackage your products or services so they become more affordable to another market segment. When business is slow, you need to search alternatives that put extra revenue in your pocket.

4. Provide Value and Measurable Results

Besides repackaging your products to make them available to small budget customers, you still want to emphasize on value and provide measurable results. Remember that people are looking to save money and unnecessary spending.

They may be more likely to request a refund if your product or service doesn’t provide the kind of results they want.

5. Seek Additional Revenue Sources

It may be the right time to team up with business partners to cross promote each other. It may be in the form of direct promotion or co-registration to save on name capturing efforts.

If you haven’t considered it yet, information products are low cost way to promote your business and gain passive income at the same time. Consider leveraging what you already have to increase revenue.

Conclusion

When recession looms, it becomes more important to pay attention to what’s happening in your target market and how they react during the time. Low cost and effective marketing technologies are now available, making it possible to reach your target market through the new channel and medium.

Use them to your advantage, and see your business grows while your competitors are stuck in the same old paradigm.