I’ve written six books over the last six years.  I’ve run 10 different businesses in the last 20 years and done turnarounds for half a dozen companies during the last seven or eight years.  Over that time I’ve become known as one of the foremost experts on applied persuasion, helping businesses learn how to persuade customers to buy.  My personal experiences taught me about persuasion and influence and I wanted to apply those concepts to marketing.  Each year I speak to about 100,000 people worldwide and have trained hundreds of sales teams over the last 15 years.  I’ve looked closely at what happens when economies slump.  When the U.S. economy started to change, that was how How to Sell When Nobody’s Buying came about.  That book was well-received when it came out last year – it sold out in eight hours -- and continues to be very relevant.

Local businesses have been impacted the hardest.  They provide a significant number of jobs but continue to be undercapitalized.  When the economy turned bad people started looking at price and when all things are equal people choose the lowest price.  Businesses stopped advertising, some even with companies like Dex One.  This is the wrong thing to do, because when people see you pulling back they assume you’re failing.  Businesses say “we’ll hold onto our money and spend it other ways,” but unfortunately it’s tough to compete with large box stores on price and selection.  You have to continue to build your brand and awareness and create an environment where people want to be.

Regarding branding – most business owners think branding is the logo or the font style they use to create it.  But that’s not branding.  Branding is the accumulation of thoughts, experiences, emotions and interactions by your customer.  It’s all the things they experience about your store and brand only exists in the minds of a consumer.  If you’re not ruthlessly focused on creating an experience that’s memorable you’re missing out on a giant opportunity.  And that’s free – it doesn’t cost anything to make people feel great, to answer your phone, to make sure you answer people’s questions.  The rest of it will then take care of itself.

They’re concerned about marketing information overload.  There are so many things they know they could do – most of which they don’t understand, so they either withdraw from doing them or fall back to something that has traditionally worked well for them but doesn’t necessarily work as well anymore.  They don’t understand the fact that companies like Dex One have evolved and now provide more than just yellow pages products.  In other words, they don’t know how to leverage the relationship with the companies they already work with. 

There’s also a perception that sales and marketing cost a lot of money, which isn’t necessarily true.  But when money gets tight people tend to try advertising outlets one at a time and if that doesn’t work they stop.  Again, that’s the wrong thing to do.  Doing something once isn’t trying.  You need to pick what your budget will allow and do it with ruthless consistency before you can determine if it’s working or not.

If you look at economic cycles, we’re in a recessionary or perhaps even a depressionary stage.  Looking back historically every company that continues to advertise bounces back from the recession more quickly because right after recession comes expansion.  That’s when people more freely part with their money and everybody jumps on the bandwagon.  But when everyone jumps on and you’re still playing catch-up you end up joining a sea of sameness; you’re not able to differentiate yourself like others may already be doing.  But if you market now and consistently you’ll come out first and own massive mindshare and be right in front of people when you should be.

The number one thing is online marketing.  They need to leverage online local search tools through companies like Dex One, Google, Groupon, and others.  These are tools that allow people to reach large audiences and stimulate word-of-mouth. 

Interestingly, one of the biggest things I still see missing is that a lot of local businesses don’t have websites or they have one page business card sites.  But you have to be seen in order to sell.  If people can’t find you when they’re looking they’re going to go to your competitors.  If you justbuild it they won’t come, but if you do build it you’ll cultivate your following and your business will grow.

It’s a buyer’s market.  People know businesses are struggling and they can buy things at a discount.  But while sales may be a good short-term cash strategy sale after sale only conditions people to buy things on sale.

You also need to be where people are, which means looking at popular social media tools.  But it’s not just about “do I need to be on Facebook or Yelp?”  It’s about “how do I spread my brand throughout the group of people who are most religious about my company.”  Social media gathers people together and gets more people to like the things they like.  This works best when you are able to create a community and dialog, because they get to know you on a personal level; it’s the opposite of asking people to “buy now.”  Social media allows you to create a community and engage in meaningful conversation with your clients.  Best of all, it is free.

Local businesses need to understand that buyers are much more sophisticated now.  If I want to know if a product’s good or bad I pull out my iPhone and use it to find out if I can get an item I’m looking at in the store cheaper somewhere else.  I can also use it to look up reviews about the item or the merchant.  Or, I can ask my network on Twitter what they think.  That’s how people are using social media; they’re leveraging their network to find out what’s good or bad.  If business owners aren’t using these tools and engaging in the networks their customers engage with they’re losing customers.

First, some very forward-thinking companies like Dex One are doing events like this and it’s really important for local business owners to look to these vendors to help them out.  As for this event, I’m going to tell people what they need to do in today’s economy to create stimulus approach and ideas that will grow their business in the next 30 days. In this economy, you either advance or die. I’ll be showing attendees how to market today and use all the tools available to them to advance.  I’m going to demystify social media for them.  I’ll talk about how to increase cash flow and sales, show them how to advertise effectively.  We’ll cover no cost, low cost, and more traditional approaches – all of which will present them with great opportunities they can apply today.

Basically, I’m going to give them everything they need to know right now.  There’ll be no sugarcoating, no holding back, no platitudes.  At the end of the discussion if they haven’t written down 50 things they can use right now, not only will I have failed, but they’ll be on that path as well. 

I’ll definitely write another book but right now I’m working on putting together a 50 – 100 city tour where I can talk about these very issues.  I honestly believe small business owners are this country’s salvation.  They can successfully transform our economy.  If I can help enough people understand what they need to do right now I can play a role in that success.