Sunny Kobe Cook: Advertising crucial in downturn

TULALIP — Now isn’t the time for business owners to lay low waiting for better days.

“It’s the worst mistake you could possibly make for your business,” marketer Sunny Kobe Cook told members of the Greater Marysville-Tulalip Chamber of Commerce on Friday.

Cook, the founder of Sleep Country USA, has sold that business and no longer is promoting the mattress company all over local television. These days, she’s a motivational speaker who helps business owners succeed.

Even if there isn’t much money to spend, businesses should be as aggressive as they can during down times, she said. She noted that smart business people should be examining their companies closely these days to become as lean and efficient as they can.

Bad times, she said, kill marginal businesses, providing the surviving ones with more opportunities.

And the best way to go after those opportunities is to advertise, she said.

“You can’t afford to be absent from the marketplace,” Cook said.

She said she wasn’t suggesting businesses spend money they don’t have. But they should look for cost-effective ways to promote their business and services, even it’s just handing out fliers or brochures to people.

One effective way to get people to promote your business for you is to send cards to new and existing customers thanking them for their business.

“Every time you send someone a handwritten note, they will tell an average of seven other people,” Cook said. “That’s a ton of marketing for the price of a stamp.”

Another important way to get some word-of-mouth advertising is to ensure customers are treated well. “There is not room for a marginal customer experience,” she said.

She said that during a recession, people demand more for their dollar, and “we’re irritated when we don’t get it.”

“The customer experience is that little stuff that people talk about that gets them excited,” she said.

Cook noted that she had stayed Thursday night at the Tulalip Hotel and was pleased when her morning wake-up call was done in person by someone who provided a weather report and told her to expect a great day. That beats being woken up by a machine hands down, Cook said. And the weather report didn’t cost the hotel anything extra, she noted.

Here are some other tips Cook offered to help build business: