OCTOBER 2008: BIZ LIFE, MARKETING STRATEGIES
Don’t cut marketing when things get slow
It’s fiscally tempting to scale back the marketing budget
of your business in lean times, even though doing so may only
cause more pain.
When the economy is tanking and business slows, companies
often hastily react by “hunkering down” and
shelving new marketing efforts to save money, says Keven
Malkewitz, professor of marketing at Oregon State University.
But that only exasperates business woes.
“If you go dark it takes a lot more energy to get in a
consumer’s mind when the economy improves,” says
Scott Nowack, president of Portland-based advertising firm
Livengood Nowack.
Successful companies view a tough economic climate as an
opportunity to outsmart, and overtake, their competitors with
more cost-effective and experimental marketing strategies.
Chances are your competitor is feeling the pinch, too, says
Malkewitz.
Malkewitz, who conducted a seminar in Portland in April on
marketing in a down economy, recommends that a business start
by reappraising customers and their return of business relative
to the amount of resources devoted to market toward them.
“It’s a good time to fire customers,” he
says.
It also helps to re-evaluate the viability of your product or
service. In other words, a little empathy for the customer goes
a long way. “In a down economy customers may need
different things,” Malkewitz says. “The company
that responds best to that usually wins.”
For Nowack, business is brisk and his clients are asking for
more exposure, so he’s helping them sharpen their
customer target and move to the Internet. One method is
locating online communities and creating ads solely aimed
toward them. He also is experimenting with “positive
message” ads to contrast with negative political ads and
news.
But new doesn’t necessarily mean better, according to
Malkewitz. As much as businesses like to salivate over a quick
fix or a new marketing tool or strategy, it’s really only
a pipe dream that wastes precious time.
In the effort to survive, all the best marketing techniques
still rely on building customer relationships and a quality
product or service, he says.
Sure, temporary promotions such as lowering rates when
customers have less money helps generate a bit more business,
Malkewitz say, but in the long run, “the lowest price
doesn’t always win.”
JASON SHUFFLER
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