Marketing with a Capitol M - December 17, 2008, 4:37 pm

 Marketing with a capital M meets Recession head on.

Recession: A significant decline in activity across the economy, lasting longer than a few months. It is visible in industrial production, employment, real income and wholesale-retail trade. The technical indicator of a recession is two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth as measured by a country's gross domestic product (GDP). Investopedia: A Forbes Digital Company

The signs for an imminent Recession are all around us. The sky is falling and we are in an economic downturn. Everywhere we turn; we read, hear and see evidence of our economy spiralling downward. Have you prepared your business to withstand the heat of a possible recession?

As a small business entrepreneur you may ask yourself; is it time to tighten my marketing budget? Do I have to start slashing my overhead costs including marketing? Makes sense right? Well not really, as odd as it might sound, marketing is the one of the most important strategies for promoting and maintaining the health of your small business during a recessionary period. More than any other economic period, marketing is crucial to the ongoing growth and success of your small business. It's now time to get smarter about how and when you spend your marketing dollar in order to get the desired results. This is not the time to cut spending.

It is well documented that businesses that increase advertising during a recession, while competitors are cutting back, may improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times. Cautious consumers need the reassurance of established and recognized businesses. Keeping your brand in mind's eye will assure customers of your stability and longevity in the market.

If you decide to cut some advertising spending, try to maintain the frequency of advertisements, for example shift from 30-to-15 second advertisements or substitute radio for television advertising, reduce your print ad size but maintain or increase the frequency and increase the use of direct marketing, which tends to give more immediate sales impact. Use unique and special promotions to get people in the door but please think outside the box and do something truly attention-getting instead of the typical "10% off sale!"

If ever customer intelligence was important, it's now. Today's consumers are more savvy and informed about their spending habits as their buying decisions are being fuelled by local, provincial and the world wide negative economic news. No matter what the industry, there is one thing you can definitely count on. Consumers will be spending less money as they have less discretionary income and will become more frugal and looking for more value. Value is what you must create and convey to the client. If you can provide greater value than your competition, you have a much better chance of surviving this economic downturn.

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The key is to look at your marketing dollars as an investment (present and future) and not as an expense. Understanding your customer's knowledge and buying habits can help you implement intelligent marketing programs during these times of financial challenges.

SMART marketing consists of:

S - Strategies

M – Market spending

A – Allocating a budget

R - Research

T – Target your market

Prepare a simple yet effective recessionary marketing plan. Your plan should include a budget, a set of goals with time lines, and an effective advertising campaign. Also take advantage of free mentions in local business articles, write a business column and have a column written about your business. Get involved with networking groups; attend functions where you will have the opportunity to mingle with other business entrepreneurs to create referrals.

Possibly partner with other business entities to co-advertise and promote your plaza or mini-mall location. By proactively creating strategic partnerships you may generate new leads and long term business momentum. Remember this old TV shampoo commercial "when she tells two friends and they tell two friends" and so on and so on.

You are also most likely sitting on an invaluable data base of past customers. Your records may be electronic or in a pile of old invoices but however this information is stored it can provide a wealth of potential business but unfortunately this valuable asset is seldom used. By not staying in touch with your existing customer base, you could very easily severe your business relationship lifeline. Sad but true, thousands of dollars are spent every day to promote businesses in the hopes of attracting new customers but very little time or effort is set aside with a program designed to hold onto all those past customers who were attracted originally with all that money in the first place. Maybe it's time to RE-ACTIVATE your past customers before your competition pulls them away with their "special attention to my customer program" Create your own "customer appreciation program" it's not too late. Ask yourself. "When was the last time I received a thank you call or maybe a card in appreciation for doing business with ABC Company".

People may forget what you said or forget what you did but they will never forget how you made them feel.

Consider repackaging your product or service offers in a manner that suggests something new and exciting is happening. What can you do to differentiate the old look? Create some simple ways to re-launch yourself, your employees, your products, your services, your packaging, to give yourself a new fresh start in the market. Look for innovative ways to re-package, re-price, re-deliver, re-guarantee and especially re-communicate about who you are and what products and or services you offer.

In every way shape and form that your business takes when it comes in contact with a customer it is performing a marketing function. Take a few minutes to review how your business connects with your customers (touch points). Are your customers enjoying a positive experience when visiting your location and are you able to identify areas that need improvement. Is your location warm and welcoming? Is your staff well trained and informed? Do they smile and greet or at the very least acknowledge your customers?

By now you may better understand that many of the above suggestions are good for your business and you may already have some in place but perhaps others need some attention. There is no silver bullet to surviving in a struggling economy, but there are certainly many things that can be done. Creating more value, cutting costs where possible and marketing more creatively and efficiently can go a long way.

Tom Light of Kelowna based "On Track Marketing" is a marketing coach to small and upstart community businesses. www.ontrackmktg.com

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