The world economy is in a mess. Everyone agrees on that. And, sadly, nobody sees great improvement in the coming year or two.
That means that business owners need new strategies...especially new marketing strategies...to deal with the current economic ills. If you do not have a relatively new and comprehensive marketing plan designed to take you through the current "bad times", you need to get started on one. The sooner the better.
The best way to begin building a comprehensive marketing plan start is by asking and answering a few essential questions. What are your challenges? What are your opportunities? Who have been your best customers? Who are your best potential customers now and in the future? What do you have to do attract and retain customers in the current economic climate? Do you need to expand, contract, or adjust your product mix? The answers to these and related questions will point you in the right direction.
Some businesses actually benefit greatly from a weak economy. However, their marketing mix and marketing messages may require a change when times are tough.
If you are selling a home-based business franchise, a struggling economy and the anxiety it produces may bring you more potential customers than you have in normal economic times. However, instead of emphasizing the possibility of people earning enough to support a luxurious lifestyle, as may be the norm in your messages during good times, messages about economic security might be far more powerful today and in the near future.
If you are selling high priced products, you will have a separate set of questions and concerns than do those of us with more mundane products and services. Your market may become even smaller and more targeted than ever as you seek to reach the shrinking number of the economically privileged; people who can afford luxuries even in difficult times. And, as your market shrinks, your frequency of contact may have to be greater, as might the average purchase size. Or, because very few people are entirely immune to anxiety about our current economic crisis, you might want to highlight your $100 bottles of wine, as opposed to your $300 choices.
It is axiomatic that the poorer the economy, the greater the importance of price. But, for lots of reasons, lowering prices may not be desirable or possible for you. You will need to ask yourself whether dropping your prices will devalue your product in the eyes of customers, what it will do for your volume, and whether you will be able to move your price back to current levels in the future without angering your customer base.
If you do not know who your most successful competitors are, find out immediately. Discover what they are doing to market themselves and see if similar media, messages, and activities make sense for you. Take advantage of the fact that competitive research is easier now than it has ever been. Far easier, in fact, because there are an amazing number of tools that can help you determine exactly how and where your competitors are spending their marketing dollars. What works for them, perhaps with some adjustments, should work for you.
All you have to do to develop good, strategic marketing strategies and integrate them in a well coordinated plan, is to ask yourself good questions and do whatever it takes to get well-conceived answers. You need not be a NASA employee, I promise. But, you must think analytically or get help from an experienced marketer.
Just remember one thing. If your product or service was viable a year ago, it probably still is. Therefore, reducing your marketing budget and/or your marketing efforts is almost never a good idea. The question is not should you market, it is how you should market. - 15254
That means that business owners need new strategies...especially new marketing strategies...to deal with the current economic ills. If you do not have a relatively new and comprehensive marketing plan designed to take you through the current "bad times", you need to get started on one. The sooner the better.
The best way to begin building a comprehensive marketing plan start is by asking and answering a few essential questions. What are your challenges? What are your opportunities? Who have been your best customers? Who are your best potential customers now and in the future? What do you have to do attract and retain customers in the current economic climate? Do you need to expand, contract, or adjust your product mix? The answers to these and related questions will point you in the right direction.
Some businesses actually benefit greatly from a weak economy. However, their marketing mix and marketing messages may require a change when times are tough.
If you are selling a home-based business franchise, a struggling economy and the anxiety it produces may bring you more potential customers than you have in normal economic times. However, instead of emphasizing the possibility of people earning enough to support a luxurious lifestyle, as may be the norm in your messages during good times, messages about economic security might be far more powerful today and in the near future.
If you are selling high priced products, you will have a separate set of questions and concerns than do those of us with more mundane products and services. Your market may become even smaller and more targeted than ever as you seek to reach the shrinking number of the economically privileged; people who can afford luxuries even in difficult times. And, as your market shrinks, your frequency of contact may have to be greater, as might the average purchase size. Or, because very few people are entirely immune to anxiety about our current economic crisis, you might want to highlight your $100 bottles of wine, as opposed to your $300 choices.
It is axiomatic that the poorer the economy, the greater the importance of price. But, for lots of reasons, lowering prices may not be desirable or possible for you. You will need to ask yourself whether dropping your prices will devalue your product in the eyes of customers, what it will do for your volume, and whether you will be able to move your price back to current levels in the future without angering your customer base.
If you do not know who your most successful competitors are, find out immediately. Discover what they are doing to market themselves and see if similar media, messages, and activities make sense for you. Take advantage of the fact that competitive research is easier now than it has ever been. Far easier, in fact, because there are an amazing number of tools that can help you determine exactly how and where your competitors are spending their marketing dollars. What works for them, perhaps with some adjustments, should work for you.
All you have to do to develop good, strategic marketing strategies and integrate them in a well coordinated plan, is to ask yourself good questions and do whatever it takes to get well-conceived answers. You need not be a NASA employee, I promise. But, you must think analytically or get help from an experienced marketer.
Just remember one thing. If your product or service was viable a year ago, it probably still is. Therefore, reducing your marketing budget and/or your marketing efforts is almost never a good idea. The question is not should you market, it is how you should market. - 15254
About the Author:
Daniel Z. Kane is a college administrator who has published dozens of brief articles on marketing, online business, online college degree programs, online education for working adults, and related subjects.
