Clearly, these are difficult times for any marketer.Customers are spending less, replacing less frequently, and substituting goods and services.Many companies are cutting marketing budgets and reducing expenses everywhere they can.
But for the savvy marketer, this is also a great time to take advantage of current market conditions and refine your marketing approach. Here are a few principles that can help:
Focus
- Stay focused on profitable markets, products and customers – and cut those that are not.
- Focus on marketing programs that show positive ROI in terms of sales or leads – and drop those that don’t.
- Focus on “urgent branding” messages – those designed to drive sales today while enhance your brand image for the longer term.
Enhance
- Enhance your website by improving your organic and paid search positioning.Put a call to action on every page of your site.Post keyword-rich articles, reports and case studies on your site.
- Enhance your web footprint by creating pages on other sites like YouTube, Facebook, and Flicker that link back to your site. Participate routinely in blogs and discussion forums relevant to your category or to your customers.
Increase
- Increase media spending in highly targeted traditional and online media. There are significant bonus-based media opportunities in all media vehicles today.Your competition is cutting back – so you need to be more aggressive.
- Increase your use of online collateral versus printed materials.Save a tree and provide more instant gratification to your customers.
Resist
- Above all, resist the temptation to cut prices as a sales strategy.Instead, concentrate on adding real perceived value to your products or services.
These methods have been successful for some. But what’s worked for you? Share your thoughts in the comments, below.
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