Blessing do come in disguises.  You just never know what or how they are disguised, until you have time to reflect.

As owner of a start-up paddle sports manufacturing company and part time tourist eco-guide, trying to keep your business running is a full time job.  However, only one of those jobs pays the bills, barely…the part time tour guide!  I am quite fortunate to have some very close friends who have accommodated my paltry lifestyle.  I have sacrificed everything I have to get this company to this point.   The recession stalled our project, but that is another story.

It was what happened during the recession that is now paying off in our survival marketing campaign.

Even though the recession forced us to temporarily shelve the Raptor Kayak Paddle project, we also re-identified ourselves and evolved along the way.  We have now refocused on our Predator and Piranha Kayak Fishing Hand Paddles.   A simple solution to a complex problem of trying to paddle your kayak and fish at the same time!

But that is still  not the story.  It was what happened in between the recession and our new direction.  

 Networking!  After the recession, I spent a huge amount of time online talking to everyone.  I talked to manufacturers, paddle companies, outfitters, store owners, guides, web designers, yak fishermen and to any one who would listen to my story!  I had to cement Backwater Paddles name into peoples minds.  Failure was not an option for Backwater Paddles!  I knew that the economy would come back one day.  When it was time for Backwater Paddles to get back into business, I wanted us to be there with our name in peoples minds.  I was basically establishing an awareness campaign with no marketing budget, while the recession was on.

When do you know the recession is over and it is time to get back to marketing again?   For us it was when anglers and sportsmen started to ask questions about our hand paddles.  These contacts were direct results from my networking campaign, even better yet, some were the indirect results.  They had heard about us from someone else.

When you have no marketing budget money, when the economy is tough, when you question your company…get ut and talk to someone.  With the internet at your finger tips, people are just a few key strokes away. 

Find out who the movers and shakers are in your line of business and start emailing them about your company.  Do not make the first contact  a sales pitch.  Probably not even the second time either.  Feed them slowly with information about your business and products..  Give them something to hope for. 

When the time is right, through all the phone calls, emials and networking you have done, they will start to come looking for you and being more receptive of your product.  It all starts with communicationg to everyone about your company. 

Basically it boils down to if you are not the one talking to everyone about your company, no one else will be either!