Smart Marketing and Sales Tactics During a Tight Economy

We can all use a little help every once in a while, especially in times like these. If your small business is searching for marketing and sales tips to not only survive, but thrive, during economic downturns, you’ve come to the right place.

We’ve created this roundup of 10 resources to help you market and sell — and thrive and be successful — during tight economic cycles:

- The National Federation of Independent Business offers solid suggestions for surviving economic slumps. They include: offering complementary products or services such as lower priced items; looking for bargains from vendors you buy from that add to long-term ROI; and stepping up marketing efforts by using search engine optimization tactics to build online awareness and supplying information to journalists and bloggers for publicity purposes.

- Marketo’s Jon Miller provides 7 strategies for B2B marketing during a recession that includes a focus on lead generation, landing page optimization and appealing to the nervous buyer — just to name a few.?

- M. H. “Mac” McIntosh of SalesVantage.com advises how to use your marketing dollars more effectively in a down economy. He shares ways to cut cash outlays in areas of websites, trade shows, direct mail, marginal investments and more. Start to trim the fat!

- Anthony Pappas, CEO, Pappas Group, has some branding tips for you, too. He examines the value of loving your core customers and ramping it up online.

- Ready to turn things around? Kim T. Gordon and Entrepreneur.com says, “When the economy takes a tumble, don’t let your marketing go down with it. Stay standing by retuning your message.” She offers several marketing steps to take to endure tight times.

- At The Marketing Catalyst, Bruce Allen provides ten tactics to drive success during an economic slump.

- At Harvard Business School Working Knowledge, John Quelch provides eight tips to marketing your way through a recession. While the article seems geared toward larger businesses, many of his tips apply equally well to small businesses.

- Neal Mendelsohn CEO of Fourth Wall Marketing and Jeff Seabold CEO of CS Financial speak with “Money for Breakfast” in this Fox Business video on the topic of how to market in a down economy. Among the great lines in this video: “Relationships outlast transactions” and “Embrace technology .. you need to understand how people communicate online.”

- Laura Pasternak, President of MarketPoint, LLC explains how to make lemonade out of lemons with her 8 strategies.

- Read Eric Holmen’s commentary titled, “You, Me And The Economy … Nine Months On” in which he discusses the importance of embracing new media tactics.