Of course times are tough and every business is finding life difficult but creative marketing and communication can help you out of the mire. Here are some top tips to get your creative juices flowing.
- Look at every aspect of your brand or product and ensure that marketing makes it indispensable, particularly when compared to the competition.
- Be innovative with your products because even when consumers are spending less they still like innovation and are prepared to pay for it. For example, Apple’s iPod was launched during the downturn of 2001- need I say more.
- You must take advantage of any low cost media (especially web based) to build market share. There is much evidence to demonstrate that short term cuts in marketing budget lead to longer term declines in market share.
- There is a strong correlation between increased visibility and growth in market share.
- Change the value perception that your customers make about your brand, goods or services. Customers are looking for different value propositions in recession and are continually seeking out better value. Companies that recognise the need to make their brands appear like better value will do well in this climate. For example, Waitrose introduced the “Essential Waitrose” range which prompted shoppers to re-evaluate the store as providing good value basics rather than just an expensive food retailer.
- Aim to be more creative because great ideas don’t necessarily rely on the size of the budget; a cut in marketing budget does not mean reduced creativity in your marketing communications. Think more about email and on-line communications or electronic brochures. Find interesting and compelling elements of your brand or product and give them more exposure or look at changing the media mix or adopting different behavior to your competitors can also gain attention.
- Look to the web, as a little investment online with a new website, content management system, blog or twitter account. More SEO activity can have great results getting your brand out there at the time that customers are actually searching for your products. Getting on page 1 of Google isn’t something that happens overnight but by having a regularly updated blog and news section gives your site fresh content that encourages the Google spiders to come back again and again.
There is no quick fix or simple solution to marketing in a recession but one sure fire way of coming a cropper is to dramatically reduce your marketing activity as you will effectively end up ex-directory. If you need help, contact us for a no obligation chat about the possibilities open to you.
