Keeping the Lights On | Jan 09, 2009

KEY POINTS:

• If you’re not talking to your customers in the slow economy, somebody else certainly is

• Converse with customers now while competitors are cutting back on marketing to save money

• Blogs and e-mail newsletters are a low-cost and effective way to open lines of communication

In times of economic woe, many businesses are tempted to kill the lights to save on electricity. The inherent peril is that if your business operates in the dark, your customers will not see you or, worse yet, forget about you.

The advantage then falls squarely on the one business that remains aglow for those who still want and need to spend money. Times are tough, but remember that many of the greatest companies fought to the top by staying visible and accessible during economic slowdowns. Their competitors, meanwhile, sank with reactionary measures and self-fulfilling prophecies.

So how can you keep the lights on without draining scarce funds? The answer lies in the one resource that’s always inexpensive to share: your expertise as a product or service provider.

Making customers more aware of your abilities creates interest in new sales and upgrades. It also reinforces you as trusted resource in your market when the competition has fallen silent.

To generate interest and maintain an audible voice at a low cost, one of TripleSpoke’s clients, The Big Picture (also our featured brand), recently launched a new blog and e-mail newsletter.

Entitled State of Integration, it reaches out to clients by featuring the owner’s insights into current industry trends in a blog’s warming, conversational tone.

For the meager cost of an e-mail marketing client such as Constant Contact and the upgrades to the website, The Big Picture has opened an exciting and informative dialog with its clients.

The website’s blog has also been rejuvenated with a simple but powerful element: the current date. And within a culture of uncertainty, perhaps nothing does more than that to say, “That’s right, I’m here—and my lights are still ablaze.”