Building Trust, Small Business Marketing in a Recession

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Do you believe me when I tell you that your small business should be marketing in a recession? Maybe. Maybe not. It depends on how well you know and trust me. If you are new to reading my blog, you might think, “Yeah right. Of course you want me to be marketing. You’re selling marketing services. Sheesh….” But if you know, like and trust me BEFORE I tell you you should be marketing in a recession, you are much more likely to trust my advice. TRUST is a major component of any decision. Read Stephen M. R. Covey’s “The Speed of Trust” for a much deeper illustration of this principle. Anyone marketing and selling for a small business – especially in professional services – needs to pay attention to building credibility, not just bringing in leads. It is extremely difficult to build trust just by telling people they should trust you. You need to SHOW them they should trust you. How do you SHOW trust? 1. Show studies, statistics, measurements. If I show you that - “According to a study by the American Business Press of the 1974-75 recession, companies that did NOT cut their marketing budget increased sales by 200% two years later, a fourfold difference over those who did cut their budget.” – I’m backing up what I’m saying with numbers. You can go read the study results for yourself, and know that I’m not making it up. Here’s one PDF from Create-Demand.com called Marketing in a Recession. 2. Don’t believe your own press – or at least don’t expect others to believe it. When I hear someone say (about themselves) that they are a trusted advisor or similar self-serving talk, I can’t help but smile and think about Garrison Keillor’s ficticious town of Lake Wobegon, where “all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above-average.” (Can you tell I grew up in MN?!) The point is that we all think that we’re above average, but 50% of us are wrong. 3. Get others to say it for you. Case studies, testimonials and referrals are powerful tools for building credibility. Now more than ever you should be working to create enthusastic customers, and bringing in leads through referrals. A third party voice is much powerful than your own. Even been persuaded to buy something from an Infomercial? Those infomercial marketing pros know exactly how to tug at your heart strings and purse strings using the power of the testimonial. Now get out there and get marketing! Use these credibility-building tips to boost your trust factor. These tips will help you shorten your sales cycle and increase your lead-to-sales conversion ratio. P.S. John Jantsch just sent me this offer: For those of you who want to learn from the best, Michael Gerber and John Jantsch are running a marketing retreat up in Sonoma County November 13th and 14th. As a Duct Tape Marketing Coach, I can offer you a 25% discount if you use purchase code EBMK1108 by midnight Monday, October 27th. http://www.e-myth.com/seminars/ducttapemarketing/ If you decide to go, send me an email, (Email Adrianne Machina) and maybe I’ll shoot up there and join you for the marketing workshop and a glass of wine, two of my favorite things!

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Written by Adrianne-Machina