Marketing in a Recession.

As we are apparently in a recession it is important to maintain visibility infront of your prospective clients.
This does not necessarily have to be expensive but it pays to maintain a level of advertising and awareness with your audience. If you advertise regularly it might be advantageous to trim down the size of your adverts or to negotiate a deal with your supplier. Combine this with free press where possible by sending press releases out about achievements/awards won/staff recruitment/new products etc.
Keeping in touch with existing clients helps as they are true advocates of your business and are ideally placed to refer you to their friends. Try adapting the refer a friend idea by rewarding them for putting you in touch with paying customers. Set the reward to the level of the cost of your product or service and make it personal so if you are dealing with a staff member rather than the owner of a business vouchers may be appreciated whereas a free item that can be converted into cash may be better for the owner of a business................to be continued

Collaborative working.

Often we find that we are not able to supply all of the skills for a client specification and perhaps turn down the opportunity of a piece of work. Look at Networking from another angle. When you have built relationships with people in your circle you also have the ability to call in all the extra skills you need to supply a complete package as well as opening the door for work to be passed your way from these contacts. Set up a Service Level Agreement with these businesses and achieve a win/win situation for all involved.
This makes another good reason to continue Networking and increasing your circle of contacts. Opportunities are all around us if we look outside of the box, however, sometimes it is too easy to walk away rather than think through the alternative approaches.