I had a very interesting conversation this morning about the effect of the Internet on marketing today. During the discussion, someone asked a really good question (the title of this post!) which got my mind thinking…

The Internet is a great leveler – both LARGE and small businesses can shine – because it is the cheapest (to my knowledge) marketing medium on the planet. The real winners on the Internet are people and companies which apply creativity and sustained effort to promote themselves, and be where people are looking for answers. With this in mind, and to answer the question, the three things every business can do RIGHT NOW to get noticed online are: 

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At a recent meetup I had with a sales guy I respect a lot, he said something that I absolutely agreed with. “The Internet makes all businesses equal.” If you haven’t realised it yet, the rules have changed. Marketing has changed. Customers are no longer waiting at home for you to call, send a brochure or SMS.  They are active on the net looking, Google-ing, commenting, and buying.

One rule though hasn’t changed all that much… Exposure. The more people are exposed to you, your company or brand the more they are likely to do business (or at least think about doing business) with you. Its the celebrity effect… Barack Obama, Oprah, Michael Jackson, Beyonce, JZ (Zuma!)… If you wanna hang out with the big boys, you’re gonna have to get yourself some Exposure with a capital E!

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There’s a new kid on the block in the Marketing world! If you hadn’t noticed, a lot of marketers are talking about Inbound Marketing, especially when implementing solutions using new media such as blogs, videos and Webinars. So what is Inbound Marketing and how is it different form marketing as we know it?

Up until a couple of years ago, marketing almost exclusively referred to the practice of using traditional advertising — Outbound or interruption marketing — broadcasting messages to consumers via direct mail, magazine adverts, TV slots and so on. Inbound marketing is the softer side of advertising or marketing where marketers attract consumers based on their interest and wait for the consumer to interact first, not just blindly broadcasting.

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I recently came across a blog post focused on what small businesses are doing to increase sales during the recession. At Winning Workplaces, they surveyed their registered users and their honorees to find out what tactics these businesses are employing to drive sales. I was a bit worried about the responses

The results of the survey showed that the most common choice was “introduce new products and services.” Although that might be an intial gut reaction when sales start slowing,  good marketing practice suggests that a tight focus on core products and services helps drive companies forward. Those that branch out too much end up getting distracted from their goals and losing focus.

Another shocker was that the least common choice for those surveyed was to “spend more on advertising/promotion.” Again, cutting marketing costs might be the first reaction to a downturn. But, those that thrive during tough times take advantage of the fact that their competition is cutting back. They actually forge forward and spend more on marketing (only on stuff they know works) in order to eat up market share while others are struggling.

I bring this up because I’m curious about what our blog readers (you) are doing during the recession. What specific actions you’re taking to increase sales during the recession? Please take a moment and share with us how you’re thriving in the recession.