Grow Your Promo Business on a Shoestring Budget

In the last year, we've talked with dozens of distributors whose businesses went flat after COVID. They were hoping we could help them, but with little money coming in, they just couldn't afford to hire us.

In taking a closer look, there are a few things these distributors have in common:

• They'd been in business for 20-plus years and had been successful in the past, some even reaching seven figures.
• They grew their business mostly relying on referrals, networking and repeat business.
• They did very little marketing, so they didn't have a system to attract those hot leads who were in the market actively looking for them.

Also, their businesses had already plateaued before COVID or, in some instances, it was declining. The lockdown just made matters worse and accelerated what was already happening.

Unfortunately, there is no low-cost, fast way to revive a business. It can only be done by making an investment in rebranding and advertising. The more you can invest, the faster it can grow.

“Whoever can spend the most money acquiring a customer, wins.”
– Dan Kennedy

But What Can You Do if You Just Don't Have The Money?

Simple: You have to do your own marketing yourself. It's not easy, but it can be done as long as you have a plan and a coach. Just like when you commit to your health, but hate exercise and vegetables. It's not easy and certainly not fast, but you can do it if you make a lifetime commitment to your health and find a plan that works for you.

You might not be able to do it alone, though. But that shouldn't stop you. There are plenty of health coaches with experience in your very own set of circumstances.

Translated to marketing, you need to make a business-lifetime commitment to become known for your expertise (which is in high demand, by the way.) The point of marketing is to make more and more people aware of what you do. So you have to commit to not giving up and putting in the time and effort, regularly. You might also need help.

Your Business is Your Garden

Think of growing your business as growing a garden. It doesn't happen overnight. It takes time and care. Working on it a little every day will reap results before you know it. You might need someone to teach you what to do and how to do it, so get help if that's the case. Just make sure it's someone who is already getting organic leads. Don't go with those who have great theories but have never gotten any inbound leads.

In that regard, some of those distributors we've talked with asked if we could teach them how to do it. And we listened.
We are very excited to be launching the Action Marketing Academy with the first 10-week course, the Growth GamePlan program.

This course is molded around the same framework we’ve been using to help our clients for over 15 years. Every client at Action gets a Growth GamePlan as the very first step in the process. It’s a business and brand in-depth evaluation and strategic growth plan that addresses the three pillars of growth:

1. Build your brand so it stands out and communicates your value
2. Maximize the lifetime value of your clients
3. Build your online presence so you generate organic leads

The course is designed to give you the marketing tools, procedures and activities to get your online marketing right. You'll be focusing on what works without wasting time in random acts of marketing.

It consists of nine modules divided in three sections that walk you through the process and coaches you to create your own plan and how to implement it. Each module includes a weekly masterclass, worksheets, assignments, reviews and Q&A video calls.

It provides you with hands-on coaching and guidance so you start working on your business right away and making progress from day one. This will be a small group setting, seating is limited.

Find out the details on our website.

The Point

Whether you decide to enroll in our program or not, stop feeling bad about yourself. You are not defeated. You are an experienced distributor with a wealth of knowledge that the right type of businesses are craving. So get out of the funk, roll up your sleeves and go work on your garden.

You can do this.

This article was first published in Action Marketing blog. For more marketing articles, free webinars and guides specific to the promo business, visit the Resources section of ActionMarketingCo.com.