Downturn Marketing: Sprint or Marathon?

An interesting American Marketing Association survey of more than 240 member marketing experts offers some interesting guidance and practical wisdom on what to do for businesses trying to enhance marketing and expand sales in a downturn. The challenge for marketers is to support the short term, AND manage for the long term, as one participant likened it to simultaneously running "a sprint and a marathon."

Here's what they said:

1. Don't cut prices. It's tempting to do so, but it most often only ends up degrading the perception of your product or service – not just in the long run, but in the immediate moment you do it. It's better to hone and refine your brand messages and emphasize the inherent value more creatively or somehow differently than you have before.

2. Focus on who NOT to target. Refine your target market to a more specific group and do it by focusing on who you don't want to target. We know from clients we've advised — the narrower you can be, the easier it is to figure out how to find them and sell to them. Give up targeting the ones that are more costly to serve, and be sure marketing focuses on the ones who produce the greater or more consistent return.

3. Separate yourself from the crowd. How? Through innovation. What products or services perform better in an economic downturn? What research and development now will help improve your position as the economy rebounds? Offer something new or different to your customers. Even a small add-on service or benefit can tip the scales.

4. Give power to your brand. Get real. Reflect. Developing language for your sales people, marketing materials and website that reveal something substantive about you as a company, not just about the features of your product of service. People are looking to make safe choices now. Give them reasons to know more about you and be able to trust you more will get them over their fear of making a mistake.

While it's tempting to go after the quick fix with a short-term tactical change, don't abandon your long-term marketing plan completely. Just approach it from the client perspective and make some adjustments like the ones suggested above. And keep communicating with your audiences--internally and externally--always thinking in terms of demonstrating value.

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