Growing Business During A Recession

According to Rhonda Abrams at the Hartford Business Journal, there are several tips for growing business during a tight economy. First, keep your marketing campaigns and forget about cutting your advertising budget. While you may move funds around, your focus should be on remaining visible. Second, hire the "best of the best." With so many employees losing their jobs through no fault of their own, you'll have the pick of the litter. Third, look for the dissatisfied customers who feel the bigger companies are not meeting their needs.

It was the year 2000. Silicon Valley was launching a new high-tech startup everyday. Business parks sprung up and it didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that something transformative was taking place. Meanwhile, two buddies -- Adam Lowry and Eric Ryan -- were making market plans as well... only theirs had investors laughing, rather than shelling out cash. Even though no one was biting on the concept of neatly-packaged, environmentally-conscious soap and hygiene products, they knew they could appeal to a younger, hipper audience with their products and give giants like Proctor and Gamble a run for their money. For Lowry and Ryan, growing business is about doing it yourself to save precious cash (like mixing soaps in bathtubs and bottling it themselves); it's about continuously selling your concept to your vendors and other venture capitalists; it's about constantly fundraising. As Ryan says, "The hungriest wolves hunt best."

Google is perhaps the most famous success story of growing business during a fragile economy. After the dot-com bubble burst, no one thought an internet-based business could ever fly. There was so much mistrust, anxiety, lost investment and disillusion that it didn't seem likely Google could make it. "We looked at all the past recessions from 1950 on and we found that direct mail -- Google's most direct predecessor -- actually grew during six recessions," explained Cowen and Company analyst Jim Friedland. Some of their success is attributed to working across channels and offering a diverse line-up of products from email, search and news to maps, video content and online books. Their ability to engage in community marketing online, on television, in newspapers and on the radio has helped them get ahead during tough times, but the bottom line is that Google has a great and innovative product!

Growing business ventures-- during a recession or not -- takes innovative thinking and marketing strategy. For the 2009 holiday season, Wal-mart is listing more than 100 toys for $10 or less to appeal to cash-strapped customers. Toys R Us is planning to open up 20 satellite stores in shopping malls during the pre-Christmas months to accommodate shoppers who are looking to make fewer trips and save on gas. Target is promoting "dashing designer deals" developed by fashion designers like Carlos Falchi for $25 or less. K-Mart is promoting its popular "layaway" program again. Stage Stores is launching a "Christmas Cash Club" just "like grandma used to have" -- offering $10 cash-back for every $100 in purchases. While this holiday season may still shrink by a projected 1% overall, the market plans that seek new strategies will be the victors.