Are you looking for a way to market your product or service effectively? One tactic that has proven to be sure-fire throughout the recession is this: selling stress relief.

Consider this: Despite the downturn in the economy in the past few years, spa services that offered stress relief continued selling strong – even in the depths of the recession. Yes, frivolous treatments like white-chocolate facial masks may have been in decline, but services that promised to increase people’s resilience, relax them and enable them to handle stress more effectively actually saw sales rise.

If selling stress relief can keep a “discretionary” industry like spa services going even as people are cutting back, imagine what it can do for your business. You don’t need to be selling actual massages or relaxation treatments, either. These days, stress is a hot topic for just about everyone – from stay-at-home moms to executives, everyone has something that stresses them out.

To take advantage of the fact that we’re universally stressed, just focus your marketing message on how your product or service helps eliminate, reduce or ease stress. Some ideas are below.

If you’re selling a consumer-oriented product or service, ask yourself if it will:

• Help the consumer be healthier or feel fitter?
• Help the consumer feel better about him/ or herself overall?
• Give the consumer some “me time”?
• Help the consumer save money? (Worrying about money is a major source of stress.)
• Help the consumer get more done in less time?
• Give the consumer more time to spend with friends and family?

If you’re selling a Business-to-Business product or service, ask if it will help the customer to:

• Look good to his or her boss?
• Save time at work?
• Get more done with a smaller budget?
• Be more efficient?
• Deal with difficult people at work?
• Be more competitive in his or her job? (If the person making the purchasing decision is stressing about layoffs, this can be a big factor.)

As you read through the lists, you get the idea. Start thinking about what you offer in terms of how it eases stress, and you’ll find it’s pretty easy to create a marketing message that works to sell today’s Holy Grail: less stress.

Source: Rieva Lesonsky - Network Solutions, Grow Smart Biz, http://www.networksolutions.com/smallbusiness/2011/01/hot-marketing-tren...