1. Don’t stop marketing your business! Your competitors are probably cutting back on their marketing, which leaves more mindshare for smart companies like yours that are continuing to market themselves.
2. In a less crowded space, it’s easier to make your message stand out. Highlight your unique selling proposition – what you do differently or better than your competition.
3. Think about marketing strategies that help buyers to feel that they are minimizing risk. Consumers are looking for reassurance during recessions, even if the recession has more of psychological toll than actual hardship. It could be similar to the “Consultations Free…Results Priceless” slogan used by the Sylvana Institute For Medical Aesthetics. Or, “Our Knowledge and Experience Get You Back to Enjoying Life,” from Amber Hill Physical Therapy.
For a restaurant, a “buy one entrée get one free” offer minimizes risk. I offer a free one-hour consultation.
4. Get strategic about what you market – look at who your most profitable customers are or what your most profitable products or services are, and how you can target your marketing efforts to promote those profitable products or services.
This is also good time to really analyze your business. During good times, companies often flirt with new products or services – and may put a lot of time and money into promoting them. But I’ve seen a number of cases where:
- Those services never took off, and
- They were a time and money black hole
When my clients stopped spending the time and dollars to promote those marginal services and re-focused on their core business, their change in strategy paid off.
5. Look carefully at where you’re spending your advertising and marketing dollars. First, are you using the best outlets for your business? Do their demographics line up with your target customers? Make sure you do your research and make decisions based on facts, rather than the best salesperson. A lot of what I do for clients is to compare a variety of possibilities and make recommendations based on an “apples to apples” comparison.
Then, of course, track where your customers are coming from. Are you getting results from your current efforts?
Whether a restaurant or a physical therapy clinic or a financial services firm, have a method for tracking new customers. I always ask and the answers I get affect how I spend my marketing dollars.
Also, look for deals in your media spending. Newspapers and radio stations frequently have first-time advertiser specials, plus periodic promotions.
6. Look at leveraging up your traditional media with online advertising. Many people get their news and information online, so it’s usually a good idea to have a combination of print, radio, TV and an online presence.
7. Support your traditional media with social media and vice-versa, and point customers to your website. Think of your website as the center of your strategy, and use ads, an e-newsletter, a Facebook fan page, blog, Twitter and whatever else you do to drive people to your website (or in some cases your blog, for information and to establish your expertise, and then your website).
8. Have a strategy that includes both traditional and social media, along with PR, so you and everyone in your company know what you are trying to accomplish. In creating your strategy, remember, social media is relational – it’s often called in-bound marketing because it builds relationships that draw customers to you and your company.
9. Do a simple action plan timetable that outlines what you will do and when will you do it. That will help keep you on target. From example, if you plan to update your blog twice a month, map out the dates and topics.
10. Stick to your plan, but always be open to new opportunities. A plan can keep you from making impulse buying decisions that are not consistent with your strategy, and that waste your precious marketing dollars. Sometimes a valuable role I play with clients is to recommend against a media purchase.
On the other hand, be open to new marketing opportunities that may open up new markets and ways to leverage up your precious dollars. One example I recently discovered is Groupon, which offers daily deals, and can bring you a lot of exposure.
Filed under: Marketing, Social Media, Social Media Marketing
