Predicting emerging trends and changes that will shape the coming year has become the fashionable thing to do. So I figured I’d try my hand.

Here then are some trends I think will affect small businesses during 2009.

1. The Economy - Turmoil and a Golden Opportunity

Well, duh! Right? Obviously the weakening economy is a major factor for businesses of all sizes and has been a concern for most of 2008. That’s hardly news and hardly a prediction.

But what is news is the ever-increasing severity of the situation; a situation that looks only to worsen in 2009. And my prediction is that this will present the opportunity of a lifetime to savvy business owners.

Unemployment is rising. Spending is down across all sectors of the economy (except of course the public sector which is spending like there’s no tomorrow). Credit is effectively unavailable. Balance sheets look like hell (at both the corporate and personal level). Clearly, we are in the midst of one heck of a correction.

So the situation looks frightfully bleak for 2009. Consumers will be strapped for cash, many people will be out of work, and businesses, starved of sales, will go bust. Happy New Year, everybody!

But in this calamity, there is also opportunity.

Continue reading Predictions for 2009...

Brochures are essential sales and marketing tools.

Even in today's increasingly digital world, printed collateral such as brochures and catalogs play a vital role in marketing your products and services. And although you may be doing more and more online marketing, no small business should go totally paperless just yet.

So how do you create a brochure? Whether you're doing it yourself or hiring some outside help, here are some tips to help you create a winning brochure from the first printing.

Continue reading Simple Tips for Creating a Brochure...

Does your business have all the customers it needs? Does it have a potent marketing system that reliably goes out into the marketplace and brings in profitable business?

Most businesses don't.

But marketing effectively isn't that hard, and it's not that complicated. It just takes a little bit of discipline and consistent adherence to some basic rules.

If your business is struggling to bring in customers, or if you're just looking to give your sales a boost, review all of your marketing materials and make sure they follow some basic fundamentals.

Continue reading 5 Rules for Great Marketing...

What's the single most important factor in the success of a marketing campaign?

How clever the advertisements are? How good the product or service is? The price being charged?

If you said "none of the above", then I have to agree with you. The most important factor in marketing is targeting.

You simply have to know what to sell, and to whom to sell it.

If you're selling something that doesn't appeal to the people you're speaking to, then you can forget about a good return. Regardless of how good your product is, regardless of how brilliant the advertisements are, and regardless of the price you're charging, if your targeting is off, then your whole marketing campaign will be missing the mark.

Continue reading Take Dead Aim at Your Target Market...

We've all heard the expression "Sell the sizzle, not the steak", but which one does your business try to sell? Which one should you sell?

Translating the phrase into plain English, the expression states that you should sell the benefits of the product, not the product itself. And I'll certainly concede that that's pretty good advice.

The trouble is it's an oversimplification of the issue. Benefits are great. Benefits will attract attention. Benefits answer the all-important question of "What's in it for me?" But benefits raise questions too.

Continue reading Should You Sell the Sizzle or the Steak?...