GroupThink: Impact of the Economy on You or Your Clients
“GroupThink” is where I turn the blog post over to you. This is the third edition. Here’s the question:
For small business owners/staff: Is the current state of the economy going to impact your marketing strategy or tactics for the upcoming holiday season?
For marketers: Is the current state of the economy going to impact the advice and recommendations you’ll be giving to your clients for the upcoming holiday season?
In other words, what are your expectations for shopper behavior during the holidays, and how will you react where your marketing is concerned?
As a marketer and having survived 2 recessions in the past (early 1990’s and 2001-02) my advice to my clients overall is to be careful but don’t stop marketing.
Most companies rely on internet marketing strategies to drive business now and in the future. For a small business, it may make sense to cut any non-measurable advertising (or branding ADs) but any direct marketing channels I would recommend to keep an eye on it and cut it incrementally if it does not produce.
Overall, what goes up does come down (our economy), the key for a small business is to look short and long term at the same time while looking at every penny spent. If your business has been around a while then you should look long term because if you don’t when the economy rebounds your competition could be much further ahead if they play their cards right…
And if you are starting a small business (with funding) there could be an opportunity now. If you know an advertising or marketing outlet may work, then it might make sense to negotiate lower rates by signing a contract…(many other AD companies are hurting so you could get media at a good rate right now).
So this is my 2 cents…hang tight and ride it out! :o)
Matt,
I am encouraging customers to seriously consider being more aggressive at this point in time. Of course, it has to be a well thought out spend that has the best shot at the kind of ROI etc that a small business would find acceptable. All of the ducks need to line up for this scenario because it is certainly not for everyone.
The main thought behind this is that since most small and medium players will pull back this is the time to make inroads for the long term by “stealing” market share while many others hibernate.
This is far from fool proof obviously and carries risk (as does all marketing) but for those who can weather this economic storm I believe this could be one of the better opportunities that has come up in a while.