The first thing to realise is that both articles are factually correct – based on the related research and statistics:

• A ‘recession’ is when the country shows negative growth for two three-month periods in a row.  (A piece of information we didn’t know until the recession happened and now it seems even our pets have a grasp of this concept.)
• Consumer confidence is much more difficult to measure.  And it’s based on a diverse range of factors including ‘perceived wealth’, the weather, an individual’s mood, people’s work situations, people’s family situations, the local high street and community activities, the local Council… the list is literally endless.

The word ‘perceived’ is one of the most important both in the context of the paragraph above and also in marketing as a whole.  Perception is a very powerful thing… if we perceive we are better off, then we act that way.  And the opposite is also true.  So you have a number of people who have benefited from the recession through decreased mortgage payments, but they perceive  the country to be at risk, so they save that extra money instead of spending it (as they would have done prior to the recession).

Unfortunately for the UK, the same thing is happening at a country level, caused by the knock-on effect of the so-called ‘European Debt Crisis’.  Countries outside Europe ‘perceive’ Europe to be a risk at the moment, so they may choose to do their investing elsewhere.  If they do invest here, they expect higher returns for the ‘perceived’ risk.  Simples!

But what does all this jargon and hyperbole mean for your business?

Well.. it depends how your customers perceive themselves and their position.  If they are busy / wealthy, they probably feel OK and are willing to spend and invest their money.  If they perceive they are doing poorly, they will be saving their money and cutting costs where possible.  If you don’t know how your customers are feeling right now, you should perhaps be trying to find out.

Good luck – and shout if you need assistance.

If you visit https://adwords.google.com/o/Targeting/Explorer?__u=1000000000&__c=1000000000&ideaRequestType=KEYWORD_IDEAS#search.none you can have a look at the tool and discover what people really type into Google.

You can type different phrases into the box at the top of the page and then search on those phrases and see how many people use them.  Google will produce a report for you which gives you the data for your chosen keyphrases and they’ll also suggest other phrases you might want to consider.

The report will tell you how many people search on a given keyphrase each month globally and locally (UK).  And it will also tell you how many sites compete for that keyphrase – which is important data about your competitors and your chances of getting to the first page in Google for any given page.

Top Tip… If someone calls you and tells you they can get you to the top of Google for a given phrase, run it through this tool and see how many people are searching for that phrase.  If it’s a low number, then a monkey could probably get you to the top of Google for that phrase, but it still wouldn’t bring you very much traffic.  This is one of the latest marketing scams, but now you have the marketing knowledge, you can catch them out at their own game.

Have a play around and enjoy finding out what people really search on!

At a recent seminar, I asked my audience to stand if they watched or listened to the news in the morning.  About 90% of the room stood up.  I asked them to sit down if they felt motivated after they’d watched the news…and only a couple sat down (which I think might have been fatigue, rather than honesty).

The fact is that the news is depressing.  Especially at the moment.  And it provides you with an excuse if your business isn’t performing as well as you might hope.

I listened to a customer this week tell me how ‘sad’ it is ‘out there’ at the moment and how everyone seems to be suffering in business.  But, on the flip side, a property developer we work with has just received three reservation forms for new build properties in the past four weeks – and they only have 8 properties to sell.

The business is there.  Whatever the news and the media would like to tell you.  It may be that you have to fight harder for it at the moment, but customers are spending money.  The question is whether they’re spending it with you.

My advice…

• Stop watching the news before work and read something motivational instead
• Start your day with your marketing actions
• Do some sales and marketing activity every single day
• Think positive – you’ll be amazed at the results.

Sounds simple?  You’ve got nothing to lose, so why not try it and let me know the results?

And it seems even the world of football is following this trend and tapping into the power of their customers…

I recently read about Murcielagos FC in Mexico; a team which is managed by the crowd who make decisions about strategy, substitutions and best players.  The team talk is made public and fans can vote on whether they agree with it.

The team is apparently performing very well…http://abiteof.com/2011/03/17/who-needs-a-trainer-when-you-have-a-crowd/

Allotinabox have taken advantage of the trend and introduced ‘Grow Your Own’ boxes so city dwellers can join in.  For just £50 you receive seasonal boxes are filled with organic seeds and a kit for growing the vegetables which contains details of how and when to harvest them.  Visit http://www.allotinabox.com/grow-your-own/for more details.

The National Trust has taken things a step further, with the launch of MyFarm which aims to reconnect people with food.  Using crowd sourcing techniques, they’re recruiting 10,000 would-be farmers and giving them a say in the running of a 2500-acre farm in Cambridgeshire.  For just £30 a year, the group works together and votes on major decisions on the farm.  Have a look at http://www.my-farm.org.uk/ home for details.

It’s a trend that looks set to continue into 2012 – is there some way you can take advantage?

Sites such as Groupon and Living Social have sprung up seemingly overnight.  Voucher Codes offers discount codes for everyday items, such as shopping, meals out and clothes.  Martin Lewis’ money saving expert site is also full of discounts and deals – and they’re proving more popular than ever.

It’s very easy to think of joining the bandwagon and adding your deals to these sites, but how can you do so profitably?  Here are our top tips from our experience and that of our customers:

1. Ensure you’re making a profit.  The number of people we’ve met who have created deals that lose them money is frightening.  Deals are not about no profit.  They are about great deals that attract new customers and make you a good return.  Look at added-value, rather than discounts.  And if you can’t make money, don’t offer the deal.
2. Try to use a site that will help you reach new customers.  If you can attract new people to your business, it could be worth a reduction in profits on their first visit.
3. To achieve a long-term growth in business and profitability, you must keep a database of these new customers and then market to them directly.  With hotels and restaurants, you save approx. 20% commission if people book directly, so encourage as many as you can back to stay with direct offers.
4. Ask for reviews.  One hotel that we work with has been rushed off their feet with Groupon deals and it’s been really hard work.  But the reviews they’ve received on Trip Advisor (and the database they’ve built up) has been worth slightly lower profits on these first visits.
5. You must impress the people who use the vouchers.  If you’re happy to take a smaller profit margin on the first visit and see this as a marketing expense for finding new customers, you must generate a profit at a later date.  If they are impressed, they’re likely to return… and they might recommend you to friends as well.

To see what might be next for the Daily Deal sites, look at http://www.thinknear.com/main_pages/how_it_works

It’s all very exciting!

If this is your situation, or you know someone in that position, please pass on some marketing tips that will help them get the cashflow moving again:

1. Chase every debt.  This is money in the bank; it just often isn’t in yours.  People think debt recovery falls into admin rather than marketing, but this is easy income and every debt should be chased in a systematic way.  Speaking to people about the money they owe is also another opportunity to find out what needs they have that you may be able to solve.
2. Keep in touch with past clients.  All too often, we spend time looking for new customers and forget about the people who already know, like and trust us – those who have bought before.  By keeping in touch, you remind them you exist and what you can offer.  (Just this week I had a client come back after 5 years, so it’s never too late.)
3. Listen – ask customers, prospects and contacts what they need.  What challenges do they have and how can you solve them?  Listen first, ask questions and propose your solution afterwards.  You’re more likely to solve their problem that way – and they’re more likely to buy.
4. Stay positive.  It’s increasingly difficult to ignore the news, but ignore it you must.  People are spending money.  The question is whether they’re spending it with you.  Your mindset is a large part of whether you succeed or not, so monitor your thoughts and keep them positive.  (This sounds fluffy, but you wouldn’t believe the power of it.)
5. Ask for the sale.  Make the calls. Get active.  Take massive action if you need massive results.  You are the route out of your situation, so set a target and then enjoy smashing it.

Times are changing.  And they’ve been changing for millennia.  It’s the only constant.  As someone famously once said – you can make money, or you can make excuses, but you can’t make both.

I wish you success and I offer my assistance if you need it.

I don’t know about you, but it’s a rare day when I find a car salesman I like and really want to do business with – perhaps it’s no surprise he was so successful.

Apparently Joe sent cards every month to his customers with a simple ‘I Like You’ on the front and a relevant greeting inside.  His customers received twelve cards each year reminding them how much Joe liked them.  He had thousands of customers (making the postage costs significant,) but the resulting sales were more than worth the effort.

Joe is now a sales speaker and has his own website.  You can read his top tips at http://www.joegirard.com/13-Rules-To-Success.html.

Good luck putting them into practice.  They are very simple… and very effective.

What top three things could you do (for free) every day to boost your profits pre-Christmas?

1. Call five existing customers and ensure they have everything they need for this quarter / ask whether they need any help with other items you provide
2. Call five past customers and remind them you exist.  Perhaps tell them about your autumn special offers and incentives
3. Make contact with five prospects and give them a special offer if they buy before Christmas

If you did this every day to Christmas, you’d make contact with 1200 people who already know, like and/or trust you – in other words, the people most likely to buy from you.

I’d love to hear your results – if you stick to the plan, I’m certain your tills will be ringing into the New Year.

Good luck!

In addition, combined with the internet, the recession has reduced advertising spend in traditional media, making it more difficult for them to conduct business.  (Just look at the number of local papers that have closed since the beginning of the credit crunch.)

There’s no doubt that things are changing.  And I have no doubt the newspaper industry will survive.  In the same way it had to adapt to the invention of radio and then television, it will cope.  But it will need to adapt (as all businesses do) to the changing economy and business environment.

That aside, I wonder what the customers of the News of the World ‘establishment’ must have thought when they heard it was being closed?  And I wish they’d let it play out from a marketing point of view – wouldn’t it have been interesting to see whether their readers voted with their feet and stopped buying it.  Or whether they continued to purchase a paper which was the favourite of many.

Don’t get me wrong – I was appalled and disgusted by the headlines.  But I wasn’t a customer.  And I’m fascinated to know what their customers think and whether they would have changed their habits in volume.  After all – they say any news is good news!

I also wonder what will happen next.  Will there be a swing away from newspapers; forcing them to clean up their act?  (Consumer power is stronger than ever and there are now free alternatives for obtaining your news.)  Or will people continue buying newspapers just as they did before the headlines broke?  Either way, it will be very interesting to watch from the sidelines.