Economic waves rise and fall and Internet retailers are as vulnerable to capsizing as any business. Why do some local businesses seem to ride it out more easily than others? What can you do to help your business stick around until the next break in the storm? It’s time take a look at the many hidden assets your business has, that you many not realize their value, so they just sit there not giving you any marketing advantage.

Expanding Your Business Relationships

Just because consumers are spending and being a little more purchase leery, you need to continue to work, continue to advertise, and continue to develop your business to its full potential. This includes keeping in touch and continuing to build business relationships.

Since these business associates and community members already like and trust you, you need to make sure they understand what you do as they would happily send more business your way if they knew the kind of results you produce.

It would be wise to invite them to be on your newsletter or article list to keep them connected with your business, as there’s a good chance that they will direct highly qualified leads to your business.
 
Gathering and Utilizing Client Testimonials
 
How are you currently utilizing all of the testimonials and case studies that you have received from your clients? If you currently do not collect feedback from your clients, its time to start and this can be as simple as sending your customers a very basic survey asking them what they like about working with your company and how can you improve.

One of the things you can do if you work infrequently with your clients is to send them a quick phone call or email to check in with them. Most of the time is much appreciated and keeps you on top of their mind, and reminds them reminds them of the value of the service you provide them, which can lead to word of mouth sales leads down the road.

One of the keys is when you get a testimonial, find a place to use it immediately. Ask the person if it is ok to use it for promotional purposes and post it on your web site. This may make the difference from a credibility standpoint for someone who is considering buying one of your products or services, but is on the fence before seeing this testimonial.

Utilizing your Website Analytics:

In a tight economy, your business needs to have great control and understanding of exactly where the dollars are being spent, and what the return for each dollar spent is. Analytical Web reporting tools can provide the tracking information that will give you that control with all the supporting data you need to make smart and efficient decisions.

Paid search is one of the few areas in marketing and advertising where you can quickly see the exact return on every cent you spend. When you measure your results, you can focus on what really makes you the most money as you can track your sales and lead conversion rate for every search engine, content network, product, keyword, and even for the exact creative ad copy you use for each keyword. When you have the ability to view this data, you can see exactly what your customers are responding to and what is most effective in getting them to make a purchase. When you know what motivates buying you can keep what works and stop paying for what doesn’t.

Online businesses need the proper reporting tools to tell them exactly what and how the keywords and creative types are driving revenue. Without this information, you really are making decisions in the dark and will ultimately hurt your bottom line. Working with search marketing company, like Critical Exposure can help you get this reporting set up and provide consulting services to package results for you in a format best fits your needs.
 
Hopefully, this will give you some food for thought on how to continue to build your online business for the future while navigating a tough economy.