Economic problems continue to mount in the United States and consumers are spending less resulting in lower revenues. As a consequence marketing budgets are getting tighter. Now, more than ever, organizations must optimize their marketing efforts.
George Assimakopoulos
Principal Manager
Recessions are periods of opportunity that can be taken advantage of or which can take advantage of you. By cutting your marketing activities, not only will you sell less than if you had kept your marketing steady but you may lose core customers to competition. That means you’ll have to spend more time, money and energy in the future to win them back. We have noticed that across our vertical clients online marketing budget are not getting cut - but we are getting scrutinized like never before. We have to choose promotional indulgences carefully and we must prove the value of emerging Web 2.0 media expenditures.
During such challenging economic times, we remind our clients that "the low-hanging fruit" opportunities should be where we concentrate marketing budgets to mazimize return on advertising spend (ROAS). David Warschawski of B2B Magazine illustrates this point well in his most recent article. He says "…even when a business is cash-strapped, there are ways to market that enable you to enjoy greater dividends. Two online marketing strategies that have great return on investment are:
1) Reaching your core target audience through brand-centric public relationship campaigns that secure local, regional and trade media coverage.
2) Updating your Web site so it uses the latest search engine optimization techniques. This will dramatically increase your chances for being found when members of your core target audience do an Internet search for your type of product or service."
Smart businesspeople know that when they continue to invest or buy even more when the stock market is down, they secure a stronger future for themselves. The exact same approach is true for marketing.
Tags: consumer shopping, economy, Marketing, Online Marketing, recession
