Business Resources
Marketing During the Recession: Don’t Cry When You Can Crow
By Sandy Lish, Principal/Founder, The Castle Group
When I was first asked to write this article, we were in an “economic downturn.” Now we’re “officially” in a recession. And although we’ve already been in it for 11 months, now that it’s official, companies are cutting expenses at an even more severe pace than a month or two ago. Many are not even thinking about revenue opportunities at this point. But let’s step back for a moment. What expenses can you “trim” and still try to 1) grow revenue, 2) remain visible to clients and partners, and 3) stand out from competitors? If even one of those three is among your goals, an investment in marketing cannot disappear from your strategy.
Recently, I was chatting with a CEO from a local hospital. He said, “This must be a tough time for you. Marketing is always the first thing to be cut.” Actually, that’s not always true. As a colleague recently said to me, “In difficult times, there are those who cry, and there are those who sell handkerchiefs.” While some of our clients are scaling back, some are staying the course, others are increasing their budgets, and still others are shifting marketing tactics due to changing goals. As a PR and events firm, our clients tend to be those who understand the strategic long-term value of what our services can yield, and although they may need to adjust priorities, they are working on creative ways to continue building their companies.
Regardless of how your company is faring right now, every company needs to take a hard look at expenses. Yet even if you’re downsizing, there are straightforward marketing recommendations to consider:
1. Long lead times.
When is your visibility most important? The efforts you put forth today can yield significant results six months from now. If your product needs to be featured in monthly magazines during the spring or summer, you have to make it happen now. If you’re looking to share your insights as a keynote speaker next fall, your speaker abstract must be submitted and pitched now. The news and event cycle will pass you by if you ignore long-lead opportunities
Prospective clients often approach us to talk specifically about a product promotion or corporate announcement. This is not PR strategy. PR works best when there are both long- and short-term corporate goals included in the program. Your company might be able to have its “15 minutes of fame,” but where do you go from there? We once had a client that ended his contract with us because we “did such a great job getting the company visibility” that he “didn’t need us anymore.” Guess what? The visibility ebbed away and he came back.
If you communicate momentum, your targets will see momentum. I just read a news brief about a company that secured $1 million in financing. A number that low would never have hit the press last year. Further, one of our clients recently hired 12 people and had two banks vying to offer them a significant line of credit. That certainly wouldn’t have been newsworthy a year ago, but it is today.
If business is slow, you may have talented staff who can be redeployed to support marketing objectives. Is there a salesperson with the soul of a writer who can create influential content or a bylined article? An IT person with a creative flair who can improve your website, web 2.0 functionality and collateral design?
Think about your office or retail space. Can you create opportunities—seminars, roundtable discussions, networking events—in your office and invite colleagues, customers and prospects? Face-to-face communications can still be the best marketing tool there is.
Go to networking events and conferences. You’ve likely already invested in membership in organizations. Leverage that membership beyond event attendance; meet with association executives to see whether you might be able to be an event speaker or moderator. You’ll get visibility through the sponsoring organization AND have opportunity for that face-to-face at the same time.
Do you have a creative presentation that can be repurposed for your website, as a bylined article, and as a speaker abstract? Take inventory of the marketing materials that already exist and creatively leverage them to create new opportunities. The corporate world is embracing content and the many new avenues to disseminate that content.
Consider a marketing co-opportunity (event sponsorship, co-authored op-ed, online promotion) with a non-competing organization that targets similar audiences. You can leverage your marketing dollars by sharing resources and achieving a similar goal together.
This is a good time to make the most of your image online. Make sure you’re maximizing SEO opportunities, posting new materials to your site, participating in online groups through sites like LinkedIn and Facebook, Twittering and blogging. All free, and all marketing. And if you don’t know how these vehicles can help your business, now is the time to learn.
Be the company that’s making the most of this downturn. To revisit the saying I referenced earlier, sell handkerchiefs. B2B and consumer demand still exists—the winners will be those that best continue to meet those demands. If you can afford to maintain or increase your visibility, your handkerchiefs will look pretty good amongst all those tears.
