Watched the news lately? It’s kind of depressing these days. More so than usual, I mean. Here are the hot buttons at this moment:
The economy, the war(s), housing mess, the stock market, the almost worthless dollar, the election, scandals.
Why taking note of what’s most on peoples’ minds and solving problems is good business.
The hot button issues above comprise an extremely wide range of topics. There’s barely a niche that is untouched by at least one of the issues above if you carry the effect of each umbrella topic to its logical conclusion.
Questions, Searches, and Solutions
Who in your market niche is affected by any of the above, and, what are you doing to capture attention and solve problems that current issues have created?
If you are in the jobs market, are you answering questions surfers are asking about alternatives to working low-wage jobs to make ends meet because of lost jobs? (The U.S. lost over 63,000 jobs in one month recently.)
If any part of your market involves families of troops overseas, are you addressing the myriad issues they face in their daily lives?
Are you in real estate? How can you help the massive number of people worried about losing their homes or, on the flip side, helping the large number of realtors struggling to stay afloat in a flat market?
Do you offer investing advice? How creative are you being in helping people navigate a volatile market to protect their investments?
Do you help people save money on products or services of any kind? How far have you gone to really help them beyond just saving “big” on your product or service? Can you think of videos or posts that can be done to address the issue of less money per family and a weak dollar?
Don’t Let The Economy Turn Into An Excuse For Lagging Sales
In times like this it is important to get beyond “My sales are down because of the economy” mentality and start thinking of creative ways to help people solve problems to attract more attention to your products.
Look, there’s less to go around right now and people have to carefully choose the things they are spending on. This, to me, is an opportunity rather than a problem. All you have to do is what others won’t. When everyone else in your market is bemoaning the economy and lagging sales, you should be out there creating content that steals their traffic away and bonds their buyers to you and your sites.
Marketing (online or off line) as if you have no idea what’s on your customers’ minds more than anything else these days is simply dumb. Address their problems straight up and acknowledge your customers now more than ever and you will be as close to recession-proof as anyone can be these days.
People have a lot of things on their minds these days. It’s likely that your product is not among their top concerns right now, whether is should be or not, and you must recognize opportunities to place solutions in their paths that will capture their attention and impress them despite the hysteria going on around them.
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I agree totally with you on this issue. Its interesting that most of us tend to automatically start feeling sorry for ourselves and blame outside forces for our misfortunes and especially so when the problems seems to be affecting everyone else. Taking instant and repetitive action to counter the unfortunate trends is the wisest thing to do in such instances.
Easier said than done you say? Well…
Great, relevant post – with tips I definitely plan to pass on to my audience.
Thanks for the post!
Maria
Social Marketing Diva’s last blog post..To Flock or Not to Flock with the Web Success Diva
Great post jack! The economy sucks here in sacramento like crazy. Stockton has the most foreclosures in America and that’s 30 minutes from us. I think we’re # 6 or something.
I definitely started feeling nervous. It’s only gonna continue to get worse…for those that don’t figure out ways to make things happen.
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Once again, Jack, a great post and timely good advice.
Those of us building income online can help people struggling now, with new opportunities and ways to get thru this difficult economy.
I was having this discussion with my husband the other day, about ways to use the slow economy to our advantage. We were trying to think of all of the fears our target market currently has and how we can help. (Much like you said, get into their minds.) Another thing I hadn’t thought of, and it was either John Reese or Rich Sheffren who said it — we have a global economy. So, we need to look outside of our own backyards to see the opportunity for growth. Excellent post. Thank you.
Nicole Dean’s last blog post..Blogs Bad for Business?
If you ask me, now’s the best time to get out and pound the pavement… while all the competitors are licking their wounds
Marketing Techys last blog post..Market Share: Buy Low, Sell High
“Marketing is not an event… It has a beginning, a middle, but never an end, for it is a process. You improve it, perfect it, change it even pass it. But you never stop it”, as stated by Jay Conard Levinson. A powerful quote at this time in our society when the country is experiencing a recession. Sometimes it is a challenge for most businesses to decide whether they need to cut their advertising budgets or to pay those extra dollars to make a name for themselves. A perfect example is the Great Depression. During this event in time, many larger companies like Kellogg’s cut their advertising budgets by 14% while new businesses such as GE and Disney started to increase their advertising budgets by 8% and that percentile steadily increased over the years to bring them more customers than ever before. Years later, at the beginning of WWII the nation’s economy was stabilizing. Small business went out on the limb with advertising campaigns and they benefited from advertising by becoming widely recognized. Marketing your business has a proven history in not only these few examples but many other instances. The Pioneer Press stated that there are 4 things you need to consider when advertising: concentrate on core values, start sponsoring, maintain or increase spending and share of voice, and adjust your product mix and message.
When you concentrate on your core values you must reinforce brand values by demonstrating strong consistency of the message. Businesses have to make sound business decisions by evaluating expenses, having the right advertising campaign, and determining what their company stands for. The Association of National Advertisers took a survey in New York, NY and 63 % of business owners said that they are reducing advertising campaign production in 2009. Studies show that businesses that continue to advertise regardless of economic times have a competitive advantage over businesses that trim their ad budgets. Joyce Gioia said that “Advertising in a down economy is even more important than advertising during the good times.”
Businesses that sponsor events or rallies are the ones who get the most recognition whenever their name is on something. Most businesses do not realize that when they sponsor other people’s events they are going to return the favor by mentioning your business periodically. This is going to bring you customers faster and more effective. Most of the people who get sponsored may even let the business have a stand where they can sell their products or services, in addition to displaying printed material.
When you increase your spending you will be on top of the competition. Why you may ask, most business owners cut advertising campaign to keep money in their pockets which is not a good thing. Titus Plautes Maccius said “you have to spend money to get money.” If you don’t spend money on your advertising campaign then you are not developing a stronger name for your business. Andy Marken said “advertising builds strength” which means companies that invest more for advertising over a period of years experience faster growth than those that spend less. He also said it speeds recovery and companies that have increased their advertising during a recession have recovered more rapidly than their counterparts that have maintained or reduced advertising. Finally he stated that it affects sales and most business organizations that have continuously increased their advertising investment have enjoyed similar increases in sales.
Adjusting your product mix and message is the last step when considering advertising. When you deliver your message in many different ways, you increase your odds of reaching your target market. The ANA said that 61% of business owners are eliminating or delaying new projects. A business should look at what other companies are cutting back on and use that to create value for their business. A good example of that would be the Super Bowl. The Super Bowl ads are selling $3 million for 30 seconds. Pregame spots don’t have the same standing as those during the game. Companies like FedEx said they are not going to pay NBC for their ad space because they said it’s a bad investment. Coca-Cola said the yare going to pay NBC because their ad has to do with happiness which takes peoples mind off of the sluggish economy. You must also offer the “right now” product that would appeal to a certain age group or to everyone as a whole at a stable and affordable price. By doing that more people will be attracted to you and that will keep your business booming in a recession or out.
Businesses whether small or large are placed at a risk during tough economic times. Businesses think this is the time to cut back on marketing. Marketing can help a business survive by generating revenue in the short term as well as building your businesses market share for when the economy picks up again. Cutting marketing out of the picture is like cutting the heart out of the business.
I’m glad to have seen a few similar articles floating around the net. Companies need to make sure that the economic climate doesn’t put their business into an unnecessary tailspin due to a kind of self fulfilling economic prophecy.
I would also like to submit one of our blog posts to this discussion:
http://www.contextsolutions.net/blog/2009/02/marketing-in-a-troubled-economy-why-you-should-focus-on-the-web/
Comments welcome.
I would focus more on internet marketing in this tough economic times. It can often be much cheaper and just as effective if not more then traditional forms of advertising.