Sustaining Your Business During Economic Downturns and Natural Disasters.
Imagine you’re out in a boat in the middle of an ocean when a storm comes up. You see the clouds off in the distance, getting darker. You’re too far away from shore to reach it in time before the storm strikes. Which kind of boat do you imagine yourself in? A small sailboat or a large tugboat or yacht that is built to weather the storm?
How about another metaphor? You buy a fixer-upper house that is desperately in need of repairs and renovations. You see so much work that needs to be done to make the place livable, but you have a vision for the future. You can see yourself sitting out on that front porch with a brand-new kitchen and an open-floor plan inside where your friends and family enjoy visiting. The distance between what you’re looking at now and what you imagine in the future is vast, but it’s only made up of sweat equity.
Sweat Equity in Your Business
Now take those ideas and apply them to your business. You want a business that is going to stand strong in the face of economic uncertainty and natural disasters that strike. You don’t want to be in a small sailboat when hard times come. You want a ship that can withstand those tragedies and come through the storms to the sunshine that waits on the other side.
How do you build such a business? It starts with and stays with sweat equity. The saying, “What you put into something is what you get out of it”, is true for any business. Everyone is in the market for something quick, but building over time is what lasts. Efforts you put in that may not see returns the month, but will be there for the long haul are what are sustainable. Put the effort in and you’ll get success back out. Or even better (and quicker), hire an expert to build your business for you.
The Slow Build to Success
SEO (search engine optimization) is one of those efforts that takes work, smarts and time. It is the type of marketing that works very well even when other forms of marketing fail. It’s not a magic formula even though some companies will try to sell you on that idea. It won’t provide overnight success, which is what many mistakenly expect. It’s what you keep doing year after year… because it works really well! Case in point: in spite of bad 2020 for the Nation and World at large, nearly all of our SEO clients experienced their best year ever (due to SEO).
SEO has a slow build, like a roller coaster ride where you slowly climb to the top. It sometimes feels like it takes forever, but the momentum that comes from that long pull uphill is what carries you through the hard times. Once it gets going, it keeps providing results regardless of what outside forces come against it.
When the economy takes a downturn or a pandemic hits, the knee-jerk reaction is to slam on the marketing brakes. Pull everything in, don’t spend any money you don’t have to. One thing is for certain – uncertain times are the best times to build a strong online presence. SEO is vital to your business success as you work to rebuild or continue through the tough times. There is never a good time to not do SEO. It will help you build a business that will make it through the challenges ahead. Don’t give in to the fear of the storm. Stay the course and you will not only survive but thrive.
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What is your biggest marketing challenge? Let me know with a comment below.
