Predictions of doom and gloom often create doom and gloom. Many business owners complain, “pull up the covers,” be miserable, and do nothing until the predictions of good times create the good economic times.
    Other business owners ignore the pundits and do what it takes to continue selling, continue making a profit, and continue marketing. Many years ago the Advertising Council did a study showing that those companies that stop advertising in slower economic times are worse off when the good economic times come. Why? Many of their customers have forgotten about them and started using their competitors who didn’t stop marketing and advertising.        
    Don’t let this happen to you. Go against what might seem to be conventional wisdom—continue marketing and advertising in predicted slower economic times.   
    With the rise in gasoline prices that has rippled through the economy, your clients are looking to squeeze costs from other places because they aren’t giving up their cars. A great place to help them save is in their utility costs. Your marketing message to them must be how they can save money by using your services. How do your service agreements save them money? How do they lessen the fuel costs increases?    
    All information you give to your clients must focus on things that they are interested in right now. And, that is writing smaller checks to utility companies.   
    Your service technicians must focus on saving money. Sure, the other benefits of longer systems life, peace of mind, and service agreements still apply. However, your client is likely to discount them now and not use them as a reason to buy simply because they are focused on decreasing costs.    
    You must still have a marketing campaign this spring. Banish any thoughts you had about not sending out e-mails, postcards, and doing media advertising. You must continue. One of my clients says, “We market in good times and bad. Our consistent message is critical so we stay in the minds of our customers.”   
    The messages focus on drips, leaks, avoiding expensive repair bills, and saving money on utility costs. When performing maintenance, technicians should focus on the savings that the customer can experience with a service agreement in place. From the client’s perspective, the benefit is writing smaller checks to the utility companies.    
    Your marketing campaign doesn’t have to be expensive. Postcards are inexpensive. E-mails take more time than money. Look at the results you’ve gotten from newspaper, radio, and other electronic media. Tracking where your clients come from tells you what advertising media are working well and which should be dropped.   
    Add some public relations activities. These, too, usually take more time than money. One of the first things to do is to write articles. You are an expert. As a business owner in the plumbing industry you know what you are talking about. Pretend that you are with a client explaining the benefits of your services or how to save money on utility costs. What would you say? Dictate it to someone or write it yourself. You have your first article. Then, put that article on a blog, on your Web site; submit it to other Web sites or to the local paper (especially if you’ve advertised in that paper). You might get publicity that could be more valuable than advertising.   
    Offer your services as an expert on a home improvement radio or television show. Hosts of these programs are always looking for guests. This is your opportunity to be an expert in your area. Your topic? The article(s) that you’ve written.    
    Does publicity work? Absolutely. A local television station called one of my clients. The news department wanted to have a news crew followed several of their technicians for the day for a story on how hot the weather was. The two-minute story was shown on the 11 PM news. It was positive. This company used it on almost every sales call. The sales people said, “Here’s what Channel XX said about us” and played the video. It was the best referral they could have gotten. People thought that since television news said something positive, then that company must be good.    
    The company spent ZERO dollars. In fact they were generating revenue while the news crew was following their technicians. The owner of the company called the news station and asked why they called his company. They told him that first they called the companies who advertised with them. Each of them turned the news down. Since he went to church with one of the station managers they decided to call him. Amazing. The companies who paid money to advertise were afraid of the publicity.    
    Publicity works. E-mail and direct mail works. You just have to be a little more creative in slower economic times. The worst thing to do is to sit back and complain about the telephone not ringing. Be proactive. Remind existing clients why they need you and find new clients through referrals and other marketing activities.    
    You don’t have to spend millions of dollars. You still have to market. You still have to promote your company. You still have to keep your company’s name in front of people so that when they do have a problem they call you. Being proactive helps you keep revenues and profits up in slower economic times.