171 | The Best Marketing Strategies to Thrive Through a Recession with Paul Lemberg

If you think a recession means you should pull back on marketing, think again. Paul Lemberg shares why now more than ever is the time to go all in.

Paul has consulted with Fortune 100 companies like Cisco, Adobe, IBM, Goldman Sachs, and JP Morgan/Chase, but his true passion is helping small business owners and CEOs double and triple their profits, sometimes growing their companies more than 10-fold. Over the last few years, Paul’s one-on-one small business clients, who range in size from brand-new startups to companies with around $20 million in sales, have profited by more than $550 million in bankable, put-in-your-pocket cash: the equivalent of billions in extra sales.

Paul became an entrepreneur at 27. He sold his first company for just under $9 million and sold his second company to a large German bank. He’s published three books. For 28 years, Paul has coached entrepreneurs to grow revenues and profits, scale with chains and franchises, raise capital, and sell their companies. Many have sold their companies for millions, including one client who sold his healthcare chain for over $100 million.

The 3 Most Common Business Problems

After working with many different businesses in a variety of industries, Paul says that all companies are made up of the same parts–and therefore run into the same problems.

The three most common problems are a lack of leads, undercharging, and not understanding what the target market is and why those people should buy. To grow your business, you need to correctly identify which of those problems apply to you and then take a targeted approach to solve each one. For example, a new marketing campaign can generate more leads. Raising your prices can quickly grow revenue. If you’re unsure of your messaging, the best way to fix that is to ask your existing customers.

How to Thrive Through a Recession

At a time when most companies are pulling back, Paul’s advice is counterintuitive: to spend more money on marketing, not less. During a recession, your competitors will likely scale back their marketing efforts. They’ll make cuts and stop investing in growth. If you do the opposite, you can end the recession in a stronger market position.

There are two main avenues Paul recommends: content marketing and paid advertising. Thought leadership content differentiates you from competitors and builds your personal brand, while paid ads allow you to test your messaging at scale. For the best conversions, Paul recommends a combination of both paid and unpaid strategies.

Enjoy this episode with Business Coach Paul Lemberg…

Quotes

“When the divine wants you to hear something, if you’re not paying attention, they‘ll reach you any way they can.”

“If everyone around you is wrong, you’re not being coachable.”

“The truth is all businesses are basically the same. They all have fundamentally the same moving parts. Those parts may look different, but they all have the same moving parts. And I find that largely they all have similar problems.”

“The answer to a lot of problems is let’s go talk to some customers.”

“Your content differentiates you. Your conversations differentiate you…that’s really why you must be a content marketer.”

“Inspiration literally means to breathe life into and I wait for the breath of life that comes to me, and then I write based on that.”

“I think the Bible is the greatest business success book ever written.”

Links mentioned in this episode:

Podcast Resources

Visit Paul’s website: http://www.lemberg.com

Connect with Paul on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/unreasonable/

The New Shift Manifesto: http://www.lemberg.com/newshift

Ready, Fire, Aim by Michael Masterson: https://www.amazon.ca/Ready-Fire-Aim-Zero-Million/dp/0470182024

The No Strategy Strategy video: http://www.lemberg.com/nostrat

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