Advice for Marketing in a Challenging Economy
What’s the first thing businesses can do to strengthen their marketing message? We need positivity. There is a dearth of positivity in the business community. The good news is that stories of business success and game changers will rise to the top like cream.
One client shared a cartoon with me that depicts sheep heading off a cliff. One sheep is going in the opposite direction and saying, "Excusé moi. Excusé moi. Excusé moi." We need articles that tell the stories of businesses going against the tide. My clients are the countertrends to today’s business headlines.
More good news is that you can and must continue marketing in a challenging economy, and here are 12 How-To strategies:
Our diverse client base runs strong, successful businesses. None has reduced their marketing budgets in response to this economic dislocation. They are willing to mix up their marketing plan, and we are nimble enough and creative enough to lead them.
1. Measure your marketing investments. The Web makes this very easy, but if businesses don’t know what works, they are cash with no ROI. If you are heavy into print advertising, you need to know if it’s effective. If you’re heavy into PR, you need to know if you’re meeting your objectives—is the business more widely recognized, are you positioned better as the experts, are you receiving more business because of increased credibility and visibility?
2. When other businesses are slashing marketing budgets and conserving cash, use this opportunity to tell your story. The market needs business leaders and restored confidence.
3. Make sure your marketing firm understands your business fully and invests your resources as if it were spending their own dollars. It can be easy to spend other people’s money, but as a business owner myself, I am extremely sensitive to what I advise clients to do. I understand advertising and marketing costs. Most important, I don’t ask my clients to do anything I wouldn’t be willing to do for my own company. Make sure your firm is continuously bringing you ideas and new directions to market in. If you, as the client, are driving the marketing bus, consider switching firms. You should be executing your business and the marketing firm should be bringing well-researched suggestions and opportunities to the marketing table.
4. The easiest way to discover what’s working is to ask your customers—how did you hear about us? What do you read? What do you listen to? What do you want from us that we are currently not providing? What do you need from us? If you know your customer base, and you have a great product that they need and want, the creative part of marketing is fun!
5. Use your marketing plan as a working document, not a straightjacket. No one could predict the fiscal rollercoaster we are riding on. Businesses need to be flexible and willing to shift resources into new media markets when necessary.
6. Now is the time to create new opportunities—don’t wait for them to appear. Shift some resources into public relations where you can position yourself as an expert and a leader in your market. To seize market share you must first seize attention. An op-ed of 800 words is a golden opportunity to tell your business story with a community-focused angle and public interest.
7. Two of the most critical elements of your marketing plan are right in front of you—your employees and your satisfied customers. They are your frontline of defense in marketing. Successful businesses know it is truly all about the people. What differentiates you from your competition is your ability to attract best-in-class employees and clients. It’s not the processes or the products, it’s the people and their tacit knowledge—their ability to energize and humanize the company. These skills are not codified; they are not learned from textbooks. They are part of your business intelligence. Make sure your team understands why you’re the best and tells your story everywhere they go. Make sure they know that you feel they’re the best team in the world. Make sure your customers are well-served and well-pleased with your product or service. One satisfied customer will influence the purchases of her circle of friends and colleagues. One dissatisfied customer can sink a business.
8. Meet the challenge head-on—turn this slump around by using the opportunity to negotiate. Publications and media need your ads; be creative.
9. Embrace new ideas. It is said that money is the great inhibitor of innovation. When businesses are flush with cash, they often aren’t as focused on operational expenses as they should be. When businesses are in a cash crunch, however; they realize that to forge ahead they need to do more with less. I have a Cedar Cliff High School intern this semester. For Business Women’s Forum we are pursuing a marketing effort to high school and college students. She formed a high school focus group using a list of questions I gave her and put the information on Facebook. Her peers answered and gave us valuable, generational information to pitch our new sessions to that target audience.
10. Consider trades of service or partner with firms to pitch new lines of business.
11. Be prepared. LB Smith Ford Lincoln Mercury has been through 68 years of cycles and this is one of them. They have been through WW II, the Vietnam War, the civil unrest of the 60s, the oil crisis of the 70s, and the 18-19% interest rates of the 80s. We are cycling through a downturn. The good news is that there will be pent-up demand when the tide changes and LB Smith Ford Lincoln Mercury will be prepared to meet their customers’ demands. Will you?
12. Keep your base happy and play to your strengths. If you have a loyal customer base, keep them happy, and let them know that you are doing business as usual. Keep them confident in your products and leadership.
One client recently presented an energy forum for their customers as a value-added service, and the information the clients received provided cost-saving and measurable results. Another client, Centric Bank, just opened a new corporate headquarters and has consistently announced that it has money to lend. Another client doubled its footprint by merging. LB Smith Ford Lincoln Mercury is expanding its dealership. The employees and service technicians have not focused on the national headlines because they are busy servicing and selling vehicles. PCCi, an IT installation firm who recently won the Harrisburg Regional Chamber’s 2008 Business of the Year Award, has been hiring Baby Boomers to increase their workforce to meet demands—they have great work ethic and are excited to learn new skills.
My clients are doing business as usual and trusting in their marketing firm to lead them in new and profitable directions to seize market share. This is not a suggestion to ignore the current economic situation—we live in challenging times—but smart, creative marketing efforts can infuse your people with enthusiasm, your customers with confidence, and your bottom line with cash. Your company can surge to the forefront of the market, poised and prepared for the next economic upturn.
