When the market is rocking and all you have to do is show up and take orders, marketers can get a little lazy.

It’s when things dry up a bit that businesses must sharpen their marketing efforts.

Here’s the bad news — business is down, people are nervous and not spending like they were. Here’s the good news — there is plenty of business to be had, but you make need to take it from someone and somewhere else. Now, I don’t wish ill on any of your competitors, I list this as good news, because it’s not that hard to do.

The simplest way to up your competitive game is to get much more direct about your marketing intentions.

Here’s what I mean by that.

In a cooled off market you can’t afford to run pretty ads with big phone numbers and no logical reason for the reader or listener to do anything. No, your ads must grab the reader by the throat and say, “Here’s what you should do and why you should do it.” Some folks are uneasy with that kind of language, but understand, I’m not suggesting just yelling louder than your competitors, I am saying give your prospect a compelling motivation to act right now.

Below are a few of places you can and should work on being more direct right now:

Direct Offers - Create offers that involve low-cost trials, free samples and valuable education-based information. Make an immediate response to these offers the sole reason your advertising exists.

Repackaging - Re-introduce your products with added features or services of value or do the same with your service offerings by packaging them in new and innovative ways. Increase the value of your products and services and spell the value out in terms that mean something to the prospect.

Referrals - Get out to your customers and start visiting with them about ways to partner for referrals. Your customers know times are tough, too. Sit down with them and honestly explore ways to help them help you.

Strategic Partners - Now is the time to build your network of strategic referral partners. Start by referring business to trusted partners and make it a point to sit down with at least one current or potential strategic partner each week with the sole purpose of directly discussing ways to help each other grow.

Creative Thinking - Give your customers and vendors “reason why” thinking to encourage larger orders, better terms, guaranteed purchases, and loyalty clubs.

Put each of the low- and no-cost suggestions above somewhere firmly into place in your marketing tactics and witness the positive results on your bottom line.

Enjoy this post? Discover more like it when you Subscribe to the OPEN Forum Blog RSS feed.