When the Tide Goes Out You Can Tell Who is Swimming Naked

Down economic times are a great test of how well you've been operating your business and how mentally strong you are to thrive in such times. As Warren Buffet says, "When the tide goes out you can tell who is swimming naked." Great businesses and business leaders embrace these challenging times to rise to the top and show how they are better positioned for growth. Now is the time to take advantage of weak competitors who have been swimming naked and now are being exposed.

Distinctive competence

What is it you do better than everyone else in your industry? What is your business known for?
What is it that sets your business apart from the competition in your customers' eyes? Capitalize on that one thing.

A distinctive competence can be as simple as your location or as complex as your product tracking systems abilities to track inventory inside your customer warehouses. The key is to identify that competence and broadcast its virtues to your market base. You want to pound on that specific item that will have a positive impact for your customers and prospective customers. Everyone is looking for answers. Teach them the answers you are offering better than any of your competition.

Get the word out

The common reaction in a down economy is to cut costs and that is counter intuitive to bringing in more sales and growing your business. You have to get the word out above the noise of the doom and gloom and above all the competitors screaming their own virtues. How can you do this?

Television, newspaper and radio advertising are expensive and drastically losing market share. Simply, it's costing more to talk to fewer people. It's time to look at alternatives. How about something that is -- FREE! Does that make your accountant smile? Do you think that's a marketing budget you can live with? Now, do you think that's an impossibility? Think again.

I'll assume every organization has a website on the web. Your hosting costs are the same if it just sits there or becomes active. Make it more active. A web page is not a Yellow Pages replacement. It is an opportunity to be very interactive with your visitor and easily up datable, and it should be updated constantly.

You want to get the word out? Word of mouth marketing and the speed at which this viral marketing happens is a gift in these economic times. Maximize the benefits of this gift by updating important information multiple times a week. Just to clarify, important information isn't how good your business is; its information the customer is going to value. Better uses for your products. New ideas that help customers. A wham bam new product announcement that your competitors don't have. A YouTube video of you talking with excitement about what you do! Create energy on your web site, tell the people, the world, what you do, what your distinctive competence is, and how they the customer can benefit from it. Get working on making your website sticky (people want to keep coming back to it.)