In a down economy where income can drop drastically overnight, small business owners like myself have to go from production mode to full-on promotional activity.. All non-income generating activity gets put on hold. Blogging is an incredibly satisfying and rewarding experience, but it does not produce income in the short term so it gets relegated to non prime time activity or never.
Promotion is the only way that new business relationships are created and it can take many forms. There is only so much advertising that one can do with limited funds, but there is almost no limit to the amount of personal contact that can be accomplished if one is sufficiently motivated.
About two months ago I figured out that customers still wanted custom picture framing, but most of them needed to feel that they were getting an amazing deal as well as an extraordinary buying experience in order to part with their dwindling disposable income.After all, that was what I was doing and is what my friends are doing for almost every purchase. We still want the good things in life and are willing to do with a more economical version, but it takes a really special deal from a business we like dealing with to justify spending money.
So, I have been making friends with potential customers and have been promoting ways for them to save money on picture framing for several months and this activity has finally begun to produce results.
As I've mentioned before, promoting a business follows the well known Law of Ketchup. You promote and promote and it seems like nothing is happening until finally people show up in bunches and you are suddenly racing around like a madman trying to stay ahead of the rush.
I am enjoying the flood of work, but it has temporarily put a halt to my blogging. Lots of interesting things are happening in Floyd and I will do my best to catch up on those that are most interesting.
I hope to be back blogging next week. Stay tuned.
Customers come in platoons. It's a military thing.
Posted by: Tom King | Oct 30, 2009 at 10:49 AM