Most businesses today are examining their budgets to determine what areas of the budget can be cut and what areas need to be increased.

In every business the priorities are different and each budget needs to be examined for that particular business.  But the one area that you should never cut is your sales and marketing budget.  Your sales force should never be a cost.  Every single sales person needs to be a profit center.  If they are not holding their own, they need to be coached to success or replaced with someone who can do the job.  Just like we have to be willing to replace sales people, we need to be willing to change our marketing if necessary.  Due to the recession there is change occurring in every possible realm right now.  What worked in the past may not work in the future.  So as you examine your budget, also examine your marketing plans in order to run a profitable business.

 There are many ways to market your business. Here is a list of ways to market your business: 

• Advertising – It can be print such as newspapers or magazines or trade journals. Radio. Website Banners. Billboards. Television and cable channels. Seek out local opportunities as well such as sponsoring a little league baseball team or making donations to a charity event.
• Direct Mail – You can use direct mail to target your customers with an offer in a letter or on a postcard.
• Telemarketing – Be careful to follow all of the telemarketing laws.
• Internet – Place pay-per-click ads on Google, Yahoo and MSN, for example. Pay-per-click is also available on many other sites.
• Article Marketing – You can write an article of no more than approximately 800 words about something specific to your industry and place it on article content sites such as EzineArticles.com.  To go to my EzineArticles.com page, click here.  If you enjoy writing consider producing white papers or special reports. Check out other social content sites such as Hubpages.com, Squidoo.com or Buzzle.com. You can write articles for trade journals or the local business journal.
• Video/Audio – The latest marketing craze is to do short videos, about five minutes long, and place them on video sites such as YouTube.com, as well as on your own website to attract new customers. The video trend is probably here to stay.  Also, consider  podcasting, which is simply the audio only version of your videos and is similar to having your own radio talk show.
• Referrals – You can seek your customer’s assistance and ask them to suggest anyone they think you should do business with and ask them to call and make an introduction for you.
• Testimonials – In your marketing materials use testimonials from your current customers to help build your credibility.
• Social Marketing – It’s the new way to network your business. Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and other social networking sites have become increasingly popular. Take the time to do a study of how to use social marketing as tool for your business. Social marketing is inexpensive from a cost perspective but can be, at least initially, be time consuming. Visit my Twitter page or my LinkedIn page.
• Website – Every business needs a website today. More and more people, including your customers, are going first to the internet to seek information.
• Blog – A blog lets you comment on business and subjects related to your business that your customers may be interested in. Just be careful whether it is on a blog, Twitter or Facebook, what you’re writing. Once something is on the internet it is virtually impossible to get it off so make sure you are not writing anything you may regret later. On your blog or website you can also include special offers that are exclusive to the site which will drive more traffic. 
• Networking – Surround yourself with people who are your potential customers. Let them get to know you. You may have goods and services they need and they may have goods and services you need.
• Networking With Other Businesses – Find several businesses throughout the country that do exactly what you do but are not in competition with you and network with them to see what they are doing that may be helpful to you. At the same time, what you are doing may be helpful to them. You can get valuable information about marketing by networking in this way.
• Market Research – Know what your competition is doing and how they are marketing their product or service. You may even read out-of-town papers or search the internet to see how others are marketing within your industry. But know what your competition is doing!

Whatever you do… Be in action.  Explore the possibilities.  Use multiple marketing venues in order to make more people aware of your business.  Combine online and offline activities.  Use traditional and non-traditional methods of marketing.  Don’t sit on the sidelines – especially during this recession but also in good business times.  Make it happen in your business.  Your business success depends on your sales and marketing efforts.

PS:  I am sure there are other great ways to market your business during the recession.  Please leave a comment on this blog with other marketing your business tips.