The Dow's crash yesterday put a lot of people into survival mode. They intend for food, electricity, and mortgage payments to be their top - and perhaps only - priorities until things settle down or they get more money stashed away. So marketing may be more important to your business than ever before.
It wouldn't, after all, be a great time to fall off the radar; some people will still be shopping, and you don't want business to completely dry up. A SmallBizTechnology article states, "In a slow economy the one thing to boost is sales and marketing - without sales and marketing your income will decrease as most customers will buy less and less from you and more and more from your competition."
Advertising could even lure some of the "survivalists" into spending money on nonessential products and services. Or convince them that whatever you offer is essential.
As for some specifics about advertising right now, no one's suggesting that you hire star talent for HD television commercials. The SmallBizTechnology article recommends standing out by sending physical newsletters to potential customers, or printing all sorts of stuff on colored paper instead of white stuff.
And finally, here's a bit of good news: right now, the Dow is up about 29 points.
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Comments
Marketing in Downturn
The companies that survive the downturn will certainly have a few competitors less whrn the market picks up. There will be plenty of space for business development to acquiere all the business that was left on hte market by the falling competition.
Therefore Plan for this today - and start marketing heavily while in downturn!
Yes It does sound crazy, when the budgets are tight... :)
Marketing During Tough Times
Awesome advice and a good reminder. The first thing many businesses cut during tough times is advertising and marketing expenses. This is knee-jerk reaction at its worst and does more harm than good.
What business owners need to keep in mind, especially small business owners, is that there are ways to proceed with marketing and advertising efforts without spending a fortune.
Please pardon the shameless plug, but my website has an article on this specific topic that I'd invite anyone to check out if interested.
Again, your article serves as a great reminder of what not to do during tough economic times: DON"T STOP MARKETING!
Marketing in Business Plans
Good point! Even new businesses, with an ear to saving money, often neglect the very real importance of marketing. Even when the economy is down, new businesses will begin. Lenders will look more and more at how effectively the marketing component of the business plan is structured. I think the economy goes in cycles. Sometimes the economy needs visionaries. Sometimes it needs finance people. Right now it needs marketers.
I've got the site, if you've got the banner ad...
I have a site that runs on just one rotating banner ad space. I've got about 20 customers or so, and have had several either cut back or cancel their banner ads on my site due to the economic status. I've tried to explain that it's cheaper to do online advertising versus print advertising, especially in subscription based magazines, when my site www.WinePress.US is free for all to use.
WinePress.US forum members are a focused target market, and are very loyal to the site. WinePress.US gets plenty of traffic with over 7.5 million hits per month too. I don't see why more companies wouldn't want to start out with a basic package at $75 per month. I guess I need to expand my customers (advertisers on WinePress.US) to those not focused on the wine industry, and with deeper pockets. I'd like to keep the advertisers focused on the members though, versus a "Big 3 Auto" company. I guess I'm just confused a bit with all this economic turmoil.
I do appreciate your article though, and I guess I just need to find where these people are that have the marketing dollars, and hope they'd consider helping support my site. Cheers, Joel
Marketing is more important
Yes, that is true marketing is more important to keep your business live because this days business are dying and money is getting more tighter and tighter so when business do marketing that will make people to give you business. you can post and read more advice at "American Economy Forums"
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