In late March 2020, no one could hide from the rising negative effects of the pandemic—and business growth started to falter. As the proprietor of a PR firm specializing in supporting innovative creative businesses in the U.S. and Europe, more than one of my entrepreneurial clients decided to scale back.
Drawing on several decades of experience, I extended my research to include a broad sampling of counsel from business leaders and trusted experts, then seized the day to advise those still with me. Each of those I wrote to that day already fully understood the value of dynamic, proactive, expert communications support.
After reaffirming my commitment to their businesses, I shared a well-vetted article on cutting costs. A key takeaway was firm encouragement for increasing shrewd marketing.
Erin Sarofsky is one of the super-savvy clients I’ve enjoyed working with since 2014. Her response to that message provided a key to the future: “Truth really is,” she wrote, “in-the-box creative problem solving is going to be essential … and that is what we do better than anyone!”
Digging deep together with Erin and her colleagues, and my clients at Cutters Studios and other companies, we essentially kicked ass together. We came through the fire of the pandemic spectacularly. Improving our core strengths and doing our very best work together, the extended, recalibrated creative problem-solving capabilities lifted all business aspects for these exceptional companies and their clients, too.
Taking stock of the present and setting sights for the future, it is often helpful to see how other successful leaders plot their courses.
Here are five ideas widely heralded as proven pathways to solidifying business growth in the most challenging times.
Business Growth Comes From Profitability
Generally speaking, running a successful company requires a positive cash flow.
Many companies are making drastic staff reductions and otherwise cutting costs, and the effect on their businesses seems devastating. This article, which I mentioned above, provides expert guidance on assessing ways to cut costs to survive a downturn while also reminding readers of what needs to remain in place to ensure the business can survive.
How to Cut Costs and Spend Less
And Bolstered Brand Trust
As always, your customers’ experiences (CX) are paramount. Every CX interaction represents your opportunity to rise or fall. For this reason, tightly managing the full spectrum of customer engagements and strengthening the weakest links is an essential business priority. Once those measures are in effect and all systems in place for ensuring optimal customer satisfaction report success, the details of those CX wins can provide rocket fuel for your marketing purposes. The ability to trust your brand is a guidepost for consumers and B2B audiences as well. Here are some priceless suggestions on heightening brand trust and using that to advantage.
Eight Effective Ways to Increase Brand Trust
Business Growth RequiresYou to Get Better
Isn’t it interesting how discussions about and uses of generative artificial intelligence dominate our personal and business newsfeeds? Regardless of how we feel about this technology, every day, we can expect to be exposed to some new angle as innovation spins ever onward. Meanwhile, a commitment to ongoing professional development is a well-established requirement for relevance in an ever-changing world. What is the most effective way to improve your core capabilities to make you more valuable to those you want to serve? These ideas can help you hone in on this imperative.
Four Steps to Grow as a Thought Leader
And to Get Busy
Building upon the above suggestions to address leaner times, a business owner has taken steps to address business growth; the business is making its customers happy, making itself even more valuable, and mindfully distinguishing its brand positioning and voice. Now, it’s time to get that information out into the world, using storytelling and/or content marketing approaches that are most certainly at work among the leading businesses in every industry worldwide. Activating these initiatives requires focus and diligence, much more than big budgets and large-scale marketing teams. Although this story is addressed to B2B audiences, its tenets apply to anyone wanting to powerfully reach all types of audiences.
Five Tips for Developing B2B Content that Drives Leads
But Mostly, to Stay Cool
There is a wise adage about the benefits of behaving like a willow tree: if we wish to avoid breaking, we should learn to bend. The winds of change are howling, forcing many highly talented people out of work, and raising the bar for success in countless ways. The standards for something considered tried-and-true business growth are being rewritten with each new day. Therefore, the above well-advised counsel should be constantly refreshed and approached thoughtfully. Especially for the suggestion about getting busy, attempts to be forceful, aggressive, or anything other than “cool” are probably destined to fail. Therefore, consider the value of having a presence even in places where you probably won’t make a sale.
How Vendor-Neutral Coverage Can Still Make a Positive Impact