In this tough economy you need to come up with some slick ideas on how to keep business going. We were having dinner the other night and it appears that a local family style Italian restaurant in going to close soon because a Rotellis is nearby and is a few dollars cheaper. Now when this restaurant opened, it was packed as it is in a good location, well trafficked and by a number of large apartment complexes. But they are a few dollars more expensive so they are empty now that people are watching their wallets. I want to go in a grab the owner tell him to lower prices (how much does pasta really cost), coupons, discounts … free glass of wine. Come up with a promotional plan. You can’t just give up and wait for “something to happen” because it isn’t going to. The stores, restaurants and services that stay in business during the downturn, prosper when the economy turns. Do not worry about making profits right now, just stay in business. This guy may be a good cook but not much of a marketer or business person.
Some pretty cool ideas of late …
Cash For Clunkers – skipping the political components of this, it is a genius idea. It turns out over 650,000 cars were sold and a cost of $2.6B to the government (you and me). This is smart for two reasons, the average new car is is going to get 9 MPG more that then clunker and whether you like the Obama Administrations Plans, we all accept that this is a good start. Secondly, this program likely generated almost $13B in sales (650,000 x $19,500) and thus trickling down through the various local economies and then the auto industry as a whole. Great idea to spur on the economy.
JetBlue’s All You Can Jet Pass allows users to fly as much as they want for $599 for a month. Results of the revenue generated to JetBlue has not been released yet but this is purely filling empty seats at the last minute. JetBlue knows that once that empty seat takes off, that is lost revenue so offering travelers a unique program like this not only fills those seats but also generates good will for the airline.
A local South Florida Law Firm which advertises a lot of TV has come up with their No Fee Guarantee. So if they sue someone on your behalf and do not collect anything, then it will not cost you a penny. Well that sounds innovative … but that is the way litigators generally work anyway. They get paid if you win the lawsuit and only if you win. So they have simply put down on paper (or TV) a statement that has always been the way they work. My guess is, that this is getting people to come out of the woodwork with lawsuits that they were too scared to file earlier because of the costs. I am not so fond of lawyers but this is a great marketing idea on their part.
Think out of the box. What you did when the economy was good has no relationship to what you need to do now. Just stay alive and let the other guy go out of business. Because every competitor that goes under, is a little more business that you will get and the stronger you will be when the economy turns.
