Emerging from the Meltdown: Where Does Your Marketing Plan Fit In?

As you can see from my sparse blog entries, my business has suffered during the recession. From taking on full-time, "9 to 5" jobs, to temporarily closing our doors or even simply doing all of the work ourselves, survival has been the small business mantra for the past few months. But as we sort through the wreckage and hope for a better tomorrow, we have to ask ourselves what's happened to our marketing plan and where does it fit in this new economy?

My marketing simply fell to the wayside, in all honesty. I haven't done much marketing lately because I could not afford the time or the monetary expense. And now I'm faced with figuring out how to go back to it. With that in mind, we can remind ourselves to start small. What marketing can we do at little or no cost, both in time and money? Here are three great ways to get back in the marketing swing.

1. Update your web copy. A few pages of updated and edited copy won't cost much if you get a professional to rewrite it, especially if that professional caters to small businesses like I do. Keep your website current and fresh for a small investment.
   
2. What about sending out a simple sales letter? Again, a one-pager announcing your latest deals is not as costly as a full-blown sales package. And the one-pager can be done fairly quickly. If your brand has "slipped beneath the radar" during the murky months of the economic downturn, a nice letter reminding people that you're there and offering them a great deal on your product or service might be the way to go.
3. Postcards are also an effective way to get back into marketing. The professional that develops the card for you will probably need to be aware that your budget is small - and should be willing to accommodate a negotiation. You can buy a small mailing list from DirectMail.com or a similar provider, and even do the labels and postage yourself. This involves some manual labor after the card has been designed, bu those actions may pay off in the long run.
4. Updating your blog is probably one of the most inexpensive ways to re-enter the marketing race. A professional ghostwriter can create some entries for you and even develop an "editorial calendar" to keep you on track for the rest of the year. Think about what you would want to say to your clients and add in the offers you think will get your business back on track quickly.

Things are looking up! And all of us small business owners should emerge from the economic downturn with an affordable, "small steps" marketing plan. To find out how Blue Notebook Communications can help you with this, visit our website today.