Whatever your small business is, you must know how to keep it alive during a slow economy.
This article will show you some vital areas in which you can baton down the hatches and keep your business not only afloat during economic declines but keep you in the much needed cash flow to cover you and your family's day to day needs.
Cut Costs in Your Office or Home Office if You Work From Home - Use less electricity by turning off your computer when you will be away from it for periods over 2 hours.
Turn down the heat or air conditioning in your office area while on lunch break or out of the office over night.
- Buy office supplies in bulk and while they are on sale.
- Cut down on your phone bill by returning calls when rates are lower.
Or have your consultations and meetings over the Internet via VOIP rooms or a free service such as Skype to eliminate high phone bills altogether.
Seek Out and Use Quality Low Cost and Free Advertising Where Ever You Can Small business owners, most often referred to as entrepreneurs, by nature are already a special breed of people who strive for conventional goals but attain them via unconventional means.
This more often then not means a lack of cash flow to invest in the traditional marketing methods for attaining customers.
There are many low cost and free, but yet quality methods of advertising what your business offers to help you create new and repeat sales.
Advertising Specials:If a online publication or local newspaper offers a "two for one" deal, or a "pay for 3 and get a fourth ad free", take it; that's free advertising.
Trade Products/Services for Ad Space:If you have something which a ezine publisher or a particular web site owner needs, trade what they want, for ad space in their ezine or on their web site.
Or simply trade ad space with them.
A solo ad sent to your ezine for them and visa versa.
A banner ad on your site to their product for one on their site to your product.
Utilize the Power of Your Affiliate Program: If you run an affiliate program for your products, contact ezine owners related to your industry and let them know that they can earn a % of any sales made by adding you to their ezine publications and autoresponder series.
Use Press Releases and News Worthy Stories: This is a very good off line method of free advertising as well as for online.
Many magazines, newspapers and online news sites are always looking for news and stories interesting to their particular reader base.
If yours is news worthy you get it printed free with all your business information included.
Make Use of Free Viral Marketing: Create a how to report or ebook, with URL's to affiliate programs and resources related to your topic, that other's can brand with their own ID's and pass around to everyone they know.
Keep the information you write about targeted to your industry.
Then it will naturally be picked up by people who are interested in that same topic and when placed on their web site or given to their customer data base then you have good targeted advertising for free.
Keep The Cash Flowing When Needed The Most - If you sell your own products, run deep discounted sales on products that have low over head.
Offer advertising on your web site, which you are going to keep running any way and it only takes a small amount of time to set the ad up for your buyer.
Easy cash flow for you at no extra cost in the amount of money you need to spend for your business and very little time taken away from you.
- For affiliate marketers focus primarily on programs that sell well even during a slow economy.
Advertising is another very good example.
There has to be a really bad economy before business owners stop advertising their business.
This is their bread and butter and one of the last things they will strike out of their budget.
- Pick up extra work by doing some free lance writing or virtual assistance work for other site or even off line business owners.
With very little time out of your schedule you can add quite a few dollars to your own cash flow but hiring out your skills to people who don't know how to do what you do or simply don't want to and would rather pay someone else to do for them.
The important thing about running your small business is to know the direction in which you're heading; to know on a day-to-day basis your progress towards that direction; staying competitive in your chosen market and to practice good money management at all times.
All this will help you recognize potential problems before they arise.
And more so, even flourish in spite of a slow economy.
Sincerely, Debbie Ducker
This article will show you some vital areas in which you can baton down the hatches and keep your business not only afloat during economic declines but keep you in the much needed cash flow to cover you and your family's day to day needs.
Cut Costs in Your Office or Home Office if You Work From Home - Use less electricity by turning off your computer when you will be away from it for periods over 2 hours.
Turn down the heat or air conditioning in your office area while on lunch break or out of the office over night.
- Buy office supplies in bulk and while they are on sale.
- Cut down on your phone bill by returning calls when rates are lower.
Or have your consultations and meetings over the Internet via VOIP rooms or a free service such as Skype to eliminate high phone bills altogether.
Seek Out and Use Quality Low Cost and Free Advertising Where Ever You Can Small business owners, most often referred to as entrepreneurs, by nature are already a special breed of people who strive for conventional goals but attain them via unconventional means.
This more often then not means a lack of cash flow to invest in the traditional marketing methods for attaining customers.
There are many low cost and free, but yet quality methods of advertising what your business offers to help you create new and repeat sales.
Advertising Specials:If a online publication or local newspaper offers a "two for one" deal, or a "pay for 3 and get a fourth ad free", take it; that's free advertising.
Trade Products/Services for Ad Space:If you have something which a ezine publisher or a particular web site owner needs, trade what they want, for ad space in their ezine or on their web site.
Or simply trade ad space with them.
A solo ad sent to your ezine for them and visa versa.
A banner ad on your site to their product for one on their site to your product.
Utilize the Power of Your Affiliate Program: If you run an affiliate program for your products, contact ezine owners related to your industry and let them know that they can earn a % of any sales made by adding you to their ezine publications and autoresponder series.
Use Press Releases and News Worthy Stories: This is a very good off line method of free advertising as well as for online.
Many magazines, newspapers and online news sites are always looking for news and stories interesting to their particular reader base.
If yours is news worthy you get it printed free with all your business information included.
Make Use of Free Viral Marketing: Create a how to report or ebook, with URL's to affiliate programs and resources related to your topic, that other's can brand with their own ID's and pass around to everyone they know.
Keep the information you write about targeted to your industry.
Then it will naturally be picked up by people who are interested in that same topic and when placed on their web site or given to their customer data base then you have good targeted advertising for free.
Keep The Cash Flowing When Needed The Most - If you sell your own products, run deep discounted sales on products that have low over head.
Offer advertising on your web site, which you are going to keep running any way and it only takes a small amount of time to set the ad up for your buyer.
Easy cash flow for you at no extra cost in the amount of money you need to spend for your business and very little time taken away from you.
- For affiliate marketers focus primarily on programs that sell well even during a slow economy.
Advertising is another very good example.
There has to be a really bad economy before business owners stop advertising their business.
This is their bread and butter and one of the last things they will strike out of their budget.
- Pick up extra work by doing some free lance writing or virtual assistance work for other site or even off line business owners.
With very little time out of your schedule you can add quite a few dollars to your own cash flow but hiring out your skills to people who don't know how to do what you do or simply don't want to and would rather pay someone else to do for them.
The important thing about running your small business is to know the direction in which you're heading; to know on a day-to-day basis your progress towards that direction; staying competitive in your chosen market and to practice good money management at all times.
All this will help you recognize potential problems before they arise.
And more so, even flourish in spite of a slow economy.
Sincerely, Debbie Ducker