Are you making your marketing plans for 2011? That process
might be more like playing poker right now than what it has in the past. The
"hold ‘em if you’ve got ‘em” mentality towards marketing has been brought on by
a protracted recession that seems to have no end in sight. Economists have
declared that the recession ended several months ago, but I am finding few
businesses who are really buying that. It sounds more like a bluff than the
real thing. Business has always had this jaded
lay-it-on-the-table-if-you’ve-got-it mentality. Unfortunately, the cards have
not been played that would convince most of us that we are on our way back to
recovery. So here we are, staring down the recession, trying to make plans for
next year on pure opinion and speculation.
Let me interject some hope and common sense into this
process. First, even in the midst of a recession, you still need marketing. I
would argue that you need to be marketing with more gusto in the bad times than
you do in the good times. Not only is your competition greater when dollars in
the marketplace shrink, but you also have to work to make sure you are not a
casualty of cost cutting measures by your clients. Remember that marketing is
more than trying to gain new clients, it is also about retaining the ones you
already have. Your marketing plans should reflect both gaining and retaining.
A second reason to ramp up the marketing now is that
recessions do not last forever. You do not want to be standing flatfooted when
the economic bad times turn around. Your marketing plans should include a
strategy to take the lead when the recovery happens. What do I mean by this?
First, you should have a strategy that helps your customers ramp back up for
business with your goods or services. Knowing that economic recoveries happen
slowly, so will spending. Caution will be the watchword coming out of the
recession. Have you marketed your company so that it can sell in smaller
increments on shorter terms with options to buy in greater quantities at longer
terms? Making options like this available will put you ahead of the competition
who demands that terms be what they were before the recession.
Another way to take the lead now is to take advantage of
advertising and sponsorship opportunities while the price is low. Right now,
advertisers are looking for any deal they can make. Striking a deal to
advertise your products or services will never be lower than they are right
now. Advertisers are willing to wheel and deal. Lock up a contract for the next
couple of years. The same is true of sponsorships. Not-for-profits are begging
for corporate sponsors. If you can sign a contract with an option for
subsequent sponsorship opportunities at the same price, you will be ready to
push your company to the front of the line when the recession ends. While your
competition is climbing out of the bunker, you can be showcasing your brand.
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Photo by Cevdet Gökhan Palas
The recession is over! So where's the party? Jeannine Aversa, AP http://news.yahoo.com