So, what do companies do when times are hard? Cut back…be more conservative; or try a more aggressive route?

What works for you?

CNN Money recently published an interesting report detailing how five small businesses “defied the downturn.” The upshot of the story was the need to change what might not be working into a model that does work. Often times that meant investing or expanding to offer a more attractive product.

So how can companies that might be falling a little short this year use video to entice their clientele, or prospective clientele? Here are 2 quick examples. We’ll take a look at two others in Part 2.

1) Restaurant owners…people don’t have the same disposable income to eat out as much. But, using video clips played on your website that showed a dish being created in a savory manner with all the beautiful close-ups of the textures and pop & sizzles that happen in the creation of the dish will make those mouths water in no time. Interviewing a chef with pizzazz and charisma and including that into the mix wouldn’t hurt either!

2) Not-For-Profits…are donations down? Implementing a video email campaign can have a strong positive impact on your bottom line. Sending out an on-camera endorsement from a known community business leader to other local businesses or employing a strategy whereby someone that has depended on the services of your Not-For-Profit provides an on-camera testimonial of how important those services actually are, can prove to be quite fruitful.

Part 2 of this entry will examine two other options that businesses and organizations might consider to combat a struggling economy.