Marketing

May 8 2020

5 Ways to Keep Your Business Afloat During a Crisis

Dani Advertising Tips, Community relations, Marketing Ad Agency, Advertising, business crisis, Lakeland, marketing during an economic recession, small business

The coronavirus pandemic is forcing businesses to rethink everything from their structures to their advertising. Most people are staying home to prevent themselves from getting sick with COVID-19. This poses a challenge for businesses, especially those that rely on face-to-face interaction with customers. People are less likely to buy things in turbulent times. Small businesses can have trouble staying afloat as their cash flow gets smaller. With the right strategies, though, small businesses can thrive in hard times. The key to survival is for a small business to engage with its community. There are many creative ways that a small business can accomplish that goal.

Work with Small Business Groups

The Small Business Association (SBA) has many resources available at https://www.sba.gov. A section of its site is devoted to information about COVID-19 and how to handle business without spreading the coronavirus. The SBA also has special debt relief options in place for small businesses who are struggling in these difficult economic times. If you’re just starting out, the SBA also helps entrepreneurs launch, plan, and grow their businesses. Your state Department of Economic Opportunity can also help you find local resources. Some states also provide loans specifically for small businesses, like the Florida Bridge Loan Program. Don’t be afraid to ask these groups for help! With the right resources, you can start a successful business even in an economic downturn. Small businesses are the backbones of many communities, and people rely on them just as much as big businesses. Small business groups understand this, and many people in those groups have experience with businesses of their own.

Collaborate with Other Businesses

Competition is a big part of business. During an uncertain time like the coronavirus outbreak, though, businesses can survive by working together. Unlike the Great Depression, completely remote businesses now exist. Collaboration is easier than ever across state and international borders. It’s possible to have meetings with a hundred people without worrying about any of them getting sick from COVID-19. Try contacting other small businesses who do similar things or make similar products. If one business is having trouble with shipping, perhaps the other business can solve the problem with its products or connections. Combining products or marketing could help both businesses prevent layoffs. Creativity is key to collaboration between businesses. Collaboration doesn’t mean that businesses must merge and lose their individual identity, either. Business can collaborate to strengthen their own brands and to help each other at the same time. They’re used to working against each other, but working together can inspire more stability, more customer confidence, and new innovations.

Innovate

Innovation is all about making your business better. Look at your difficulties with the coronavirus pandemic as areas where you can improve your business. If you’re worried about many of your employees getting sick from COVID-19, invest in a remote work program. Is there a possibility that your servers can’t handle a surge in customers caused by stay at home orders? Research and invest in some new hardware that’s better than your competition. Don’t forget to be creative! Is there something that your customers need that you’re not providing? Has someone had an amazing idea for a new service? Don’t be afraid to take some creative risks during this time. If you tap into a new market or create a product that no one else is offering, your business could quickly reach new levels of success. Many people think of the coronavirus as a temporary problem until we get back to normal. There’s no reason that “normal” must be the same as it was. Small business can innovate to create a new, better normal. Use the uncertainty and stress of this difficult time to make something better!

Advertise

Since people don’t usually buy as much when times are tough, it’s easy to think that small businesses should cut their advertising budgets. Instead, small businesses should increase their advertising as much as they can. This goes double if they’ve created something new and exciting that consumers would be interested in while dealing with the coronavirus. Many people are afraid of COVID-19 right now, and a fun distraction with a product they like could be just what they need. Reach out to potential customers with digital marketing. Use lots of SEO, and try to repeat your message as often as possible. People don’t often buy a product the first time they see it, so you need to convince them. Find creative ways to make your product appealing. Tap into new technology or write an app. Tailor your marketing to the people who need your product most and focus on them. Some companies even sell products at a loss if it helps them get the word out to people who need them.

Give Back

It’s easy for businesses of any size to forget about giving back in a time of crisis like the coronavirus pandemic. That’s just what many small businesses are doing now, though. Some are donating medical supplies to fight COVID-19, others are helping raise awareness, and still more are donating to people in need. From a business perspective, you can think of these actions as positive advertising. It’s a good investment with a high rate of return. Successful businesses know, however, that there’s more to it than money and numbers. Businesses of all sizes rely on customers to keep afloat, so giving back is a way to thank them and make their lives better in return. Helping out is important because running a successful business isn’t just about money. It’s about making the world a better place by providing people with something they need.

April 3 2020

Never Stop Marketing

Dani Advertising Tips, Marketing business crisis, coronavirus, covid-19, marketing, marketing during an economic recession, never stop marketing

Marketing during an economic recession or downturn is a necessity that many businesses may squander.

By nature, the first reaction people have to any major fiscal threat is to hoard and cut many so called “non-essential” services (marketing for instance) that cost them additional money. While it is true that certain budget cuts might have to be made in dire times, many businesses end up making the wrong type of cuts — including eliminating their marketing department. Instead of helping their cause, this actually sets their business up for failure; dooming their business’ chance at an opportunity that seldom presents itself: to be heard above their competitors. Merely reacting to a negative situation is not a sound business strategy; instead you should carefully consider the future and where you’d like to be, especially when the present crisis has ended.

“A man who stops advertising to save money is like a man who stops a clock to save time” -Henry Ford

Since ancient times, the market square, where people gathered, was the only place for entrepreneurs to sell their goods and services. If you wanted to be noticed above all the thousand other people in the market square, you had to do something different to stand out. After all there were probably dozens of businesses just like yours and they all sold the same thing. Having bright colors hanging near your stall, or a sign above your booth would be a good start. But if you wanted even more exposure, you would need to reach directly into your customers heads: through their ears. You would need to get out there and proclaim your wares or services in a loud voice. And if you were too busy to do it yourself you would hire someone to be that “Loud Voice Guy” for you. That “Loud Voice Guy” would be the birth of your marketing company.

Think about it this way: if less people were buying because of an economic crisis, you wouldn’t want to stop your “Loud Voice Guy” from working, or even worse, fire him. Instead, to get one step above your competitors, you would want to hire another “Loud Voice Guy” or two for that matter, expanding your reach to let more people know about your amazing product. That way even though there may be less people buying, you are the one getting more exposure and all the while the same amount or possibly even more customers. Yes, it’s true you’d be paying for additional marketing, but if your business is to survive you would need it. And if you fired all your “Loud Voice Guys” you might have more money in the short run, but you would lose all those potential sales you could have gotten as well as the new customers you might have attained in the future.

To put it simply, marketing is about getting your name out to the people who want what you are selling. There are people out there just waiting to spend their money but have no idea who you are or where you are located. Your marketing company is your “Loud Voice Guy.” You need them to keep your customers coming. If you cut your marketing as you make cuts to every other part of your business, then you might as well say, “Goodbye it was nice knowing you,” to your customers. Because two things will happen: your present customers will forget about you, and (should the recession end) you will no longer have a voice that can be heard above your competitors. The latter means you are delegated to the back of the race for customers with all your competitors, (especially those who had a marketing team when you didn’t) erasing years of hard work.

Marketing is about psychology. The marketer (“Loud Voice Guy”) knows that people require different ways to be inspired to buy a product or service. He will do his research and find out what people are thinking. He will then take this research and bring it back to his particular business and present it, after which finding the best way to proceed. Marketing takes time, just like anything you are building. Arbitrarily cutting your marketing because of a gut reaction of fear due to economic setback is like burning your building down because of a rat infestation.

Did you know that most of the businesses that survived the Great Depression acted as if there wasn’t a Great Depression at all?

This attitude reflected an idea that a business would create demand even if demand wasn’t there. In other words, business owners did not play victim to whatever was happening around them. Innovation is key to survival in any situation that occurs, whether positive or negative. Your marketing company serves as a pioneer for your business and is your best hope for weathering tough times, along with your positive mindset. You need your marketing company — keep this part of your team. In fact, turn them loose and let them innovate and grow your business, especially now.

Ligon Marketing is a full-service marketing, advertising and public relations agency based in Lakeland, FL. Ligon Marketing works with several businesses of all sizes to collaborate with and identify the most effective ways to present unique stories to target audiences. Utilizing digital solutions, practical business strategies, advertising, events, media buying, public relations, social media and more, our end goal is to help businesses grow, thrive, and improve their financial performance through effective and compelling branding and marketing campaigns.

Ligon Marketing is owned and operated by Cora Ligon, who was born in the United States but spent her childhood in Papua New Guinea with her linguist parents. Her cross-cultural experiences and multilingual background give her deep insight to communication between different groups and types of people. Alongside Cora, Ligon Marketing has a dedicated and experienced team of experts that have a passion for helping companies flourish. For more information about Ligon Marketing and the extensive list of services the agency provides, visit www.LigonMarketing.com, or call 863-838-5475. You can also follow Ligon Marketing on Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

February 3 2020

Influencer Marketing. Influencers Say it Works!

Dani Advertising Tips, Marketing, Social Media Marketing Influencer Marketing, Influencers, social media marketing

What do you think of when you hear “influencer marketing?” If you’re like most people, you might think “celebrity endorsement.” And, while you wouldn’t be far from correct, you’d still be, well…wrong.

Two reasons. One, an influencer is not necessarily a celebrity and, two, an influencer is not necessarily seen as an endorser. Hubspot defines influencer marketing as the “employment of leading, niche content creators to improve brand awareness, increase traffic, and drive your brand’s message to your target audience.” Given the above, perhaps influencer marketing is a marketing tactic that isn’t as daunting as you may have thought.

So, what then, is an influencer? An influencer is an individual who, through building their own personal brand via social media, has established a reputation as an “expert” in a particular industry. What makes them influential is the following they have built on the web, primarily through various – if not all – social media channels. An influencer can be, for example, a consultant/former banker in the financial industry who regularly posts subject matter expert articles on industry sites, within industry-related LinkedIn groups, and in and on well-regarded industry publications and websites.

Influencer marketing has taken on a new importance recently. This importance has been a long time coming. After all, traditional marketing, i.e., advertising, along with more traditional tactics, such as out of home and broadcast, have been going the way of the dinosaur for quite a while and, in their place, are tactics and channels that offer brands the opportunity to build and maintain relationships. The emphasis in today’s marketing arena is on building connections and trust, not sales. Build connections and trust, sales will follow.

Does it really work?

So, what proof is there that this “influencer marketing” thing really works? As the old saying goes, numbers never lie, and influencermarketing.com lays it out like this:

80% of marketers say influencer marketing is effective, and 89% say it works just as well (if not better) than other marketing channels.
71% of marketers say the quality of customers and traffic from influencer marketing is better than other sources.
49% of consumers today depend on influencer recommendations for their purchase decisions, while 60% say they’ve been influenced by a recommendation when shopping in-store.
Google searches for “influencer marketing” grew 1500% in the last three years.
48% of marketers working with influencers say audience relationship is the most valuable factor when considering which influencer to collaborate with.
Influencer marketing strategies focused on branding or engagements generate 8x ROI.
The top three goals of influencer marketing for businesses include increasing brand awareness (85%), reaching new audiences (71%), and generating sales and conversions (64%).

How do you find the right influencer?

Google

The most straightforward way to go about an influencer search is with the help of Google (or any search engine). Remember, an influencer is already creating content relevant to your industry and reaching your target audience. So, a Google search for industry-related terms and keywords will surface experts in those areas.

Social Media

Search various social media platforms. Influencers often have an online profile that will tell you a great deal about them.

Blogs

Look for influencers on social media who regularly post content that’s compatible with your brand image, as well as the products/services you offer. Make note not just of the author’s name but the names of any sources cited.

Talent Agencies

If you’re looking to hire a specific celebrity influencer, you can find them… but, you’ll probably need to go through their agent.

Seek Professional Help

Like any marketing tactic or platform, Influencer marketing is an investment. It takes time and money to seek out and secure a relationship with the right influencer for your brand and product. In order to make certain that your time, and money, are well spent, you might consider engaging a professional marketing agency that can assist you in building a social media marketing strategy; one that includes influencers.