Losers and Winners

Not every business succeeds. We all know that, but what makes the difference between the winners and the losers?

The Loser
Marketing mistakes are the most common reason of all that businesses fail. When business owners encounter financial hard times, they cut their marketing budget. That's a mistake. If they cut their marketing budget, they'll obviously get fewer customers and visitors. Fewer visitors mean less in sales. So, their financial situation gets even worse. As their budget gets ever tighter, they cut even more of their marketing budget. If they keep repeating this death circle, they will eventually not have enough money to run the business at all. (An even bigger mistake than cutting the marketing budget - is no marketing budget at all. Some webmasters especially seem to think that if they build a website the world will make its way to their door. It doesn't and their online business efforts are on a death cycle before they get a fair chance of starting.)

The Winner
On the other hand, companies that do overcome financial hardships and succeed tend to cut other expenses, such as payroll, not their marketing budget. That's why you continue to see their ads on TV and everywhere else, even after they announce the layoff of large numbers of employees.

The Solution
With a very tight budget, you obviously cannot increase your marketing budget. The solution, however, is to work on improving the effectiveness of the marketing campaigns that you do have. If the ads you run pull better results, you will get more customers without spending extra money. With more customers, you will make more money. Then, you can spend the extra money on marketing to get more customers (and more money). Now, you can spend even more money on marketing to get even more customers. In a nutshell, this is the cycle of success in growing your business.

If you test every marketing campaign, you will know (or you already know) what works and what doesn't. Knowing this, you should be able to make better ads by yourself. If you cannot, then you obviously need to hire a good marketing firm. Good ones are expensive, but if you don't do what you have to do to effectively market your business, you won't be in business for very long.