Overcoming the Marketing Slump

Is your marketing having a hard time delivering the results you want? Are you working as hard as you possibly can and still not getting results? Are you having a hard time attracting customers or generating the sales you need to remain profitable? If your answer was yes to any of these questions, you are probably in a marketing slump. What you were doing isn't working anymore so its time to re-vamp your marketing strategy and overcome your marketing slump. Here are some tips to get you started:

Tip #1: Get expert help.

Get advice from someone in your market sector that is getting results. Hire an expert to help you turn your marketing (or branding) around to bring in customers. You can get involved in marketing programs, hire a private marketing coach, or bring in fresh eyes that will weed out the dead marketing to get you back on track. Your time is valuable, so stop wasting it and get some expert help.

Tip #2: Learn something new.

Your customers are a dynamic factor in your marketing strategy. You should have a target market, but your target market's needs and wants are in a constant state of change. What appealed to them six months or a year ago may not appeal to them in the same way now. It is time for you to learn something new. Go back to step one of the marketing process and do your research again. Find out what people want and how they want it sold to them. If you need to learn new techniques or new technologies, go back to the first tip and hire an expert that will help you get the results you want. Your marketing has to be dynamic to keep up with your customers' needs, so you need to be constantly learning what's new and being innovative yourself.

Tip #3: Practice makes perfect.

Marketing is not a one-shot deal. You can rarely learn overnight how to do it right so you capture the attention of your customers and generate sales. Once you learn new marketing techniques, they have to be tailored to fit your business and your customers (or potential customers). That takes practice. Practice new marketing techniques until you master them. They may not work for you right off the bat, but with practice comes the results.

Tip #4: Get feedback.

You see your business one way. The girl at the front desk sees it another way. Your neighbor sees it in an entirely different way, and your spouse.well, let's not address that. The point is that you are not working in a vacuum. You have to get feedback on how you are doing and what you could be doing differently. It is difficult to look at what you are doing objectively, especially when you have put in a lot of time and effort into your current marketing strategy (that isn't working). Ask for advice from a business partner, trusted friend, or your customers to see what you could be doing differently that would work better. Your customers are a goldmine of information you can use in planning your new marketing strategy. Get out there and talk to them, do customer surveys, study focus groups, and hire someone to give you feedback on what you are doing. The more outside input you get in your new marketing strategy, the more likely you are to succeed with it and get the results you want.