I recently returned from Washington D.C. again and I was reflecting on the trials and tribulations that all business owners endure with illness, death, and economy and trying to run a business all at the same time. Of course this is not easy but somewhere deep inside all of us is a certain type of strength that helps us survive these difficult times. All businesses are ran by Presidents, VPs, all different levels of managers and staff, and they all have families they are also responsible for. The economy, illness, death does not escape anybody but as I said there is a special type of strength that we all have been blessed with and that is something that we all need to tap into during these difficult times. As we read in the newspapers and listen to the media inform us of all the jobs being lost and companies closing their doors, a lot of times peoples first reaction is to panic. This is understandable but actually this is the time that we need to tap into our inner strength.

From a business owner’s perspective we also want to panic when we see our customers either cut their spending in half or stop ordering all together and this is when we should dig deep within ourselves. I have to say that I’m really tired of hearing and reading about all the dark clouds that are lying over our heads and that the only way to get out from under them is to cut, cut, and cut more spending. I’m here to say, that is not the way to get out from under this dark cloud but that we should perhaps rethink how we are spending our money and pay more attention on how we can better enhance what we have. The first thing companies cut out is their marketing budget. This is the biggest mistake because what you find is when you don’t market your company you lose visibility, which usually will draw people to you. Your marketing dollars is the first thing that you should cleave to you like your first born. You don’t need to spend more, just figure out how to make what you have work smarter for your company.

Promotional products is one of the smartest, popular, and economical means of marketing your company. Say for example if you are preparing for a tradeshow and you normally purchase 25,000 of a inexpensive giveaway. You need to examine if that has really worked for you in the past and how many of those giveaways do you have left? What was your ROI with this method? I believe that if you take a different approach by analyzing the amount of people that are expected to attend the show and how many people you truly believe you can get as leads, then as prospects, and then clients.

When purchasing promotional marketing products for a tradeshow it is best to buy a certain amount of the (CPS) Cheap Plastic Stuff and a nicer product, one that they will find useful and intriging. If you normally buy 25,000 cheap giveaways, go a different route by first consulting with our Promotional Marketing vendor. They should be asking you peritnent questions on who your targeted audience is, how you intend to distrubute the products, and other questions that would be benifical to the distribution of your precious marketing dollars. Let them guide you and help you track your ROI after the event. They should be working with you every step of the way, and this is what they should want to do for you.

To bring everything into perspective, although things appear to be bleak or you may feel like your world has opened up and swallowed you whole, dig deep within yourself because all of us humans have the instinct to survive. We are smart and strong people and we should always wake up in the morning and look ourselves in the mirror and say how grateful we are for all that we have in our lives. I know I’m very grateful to have had my dear nephew in my life for his short 18 years and all the wonderful things I learned from him. I’m grateful for the trials and tribulations I encounter for without them, I would not be able to recognize all the wonderful things in my life. Know that with every bit of bad, there is good. We have the ability to make the dark clouds over us disappear and bring beautiful sun shine, by having a positive attitude and digging into our inner strength. Somebody puts a hurdle in front of you, go over, under, around it, but get it out of your way and move on. Somebody put it there but you have the power to move it.