NEWS & UPDATES

July 1, 2008 In By Advent

Marketing in a Slow Economy

If you had just one dol­lar left to spend in your company…

The dark fore­cast of eco­nomic woe looms like a men­ac­ing cumu­lonim­bus cloud bil­low­ing on the hori­zon.  To be sure, cur­rent pat­terns indi­cate it may be blown off course.  But con­sumers are bat­ten­ing down the hatches.  As the United States tight­ens its purse strings it is no time for com­pa­nies cut their mar­ket­ing budgets.  Advertising strate­gies like expe­ri­en­tial mar­ket­ing and inter­ac­tive mar­ket­ing are becom­ing more pop­u­lar.  In his new book, Mar­ket­ing in a Slow-Growth Econ­omy, Avra­ham Shama writes that con­cerned con­sumers become more crit­i­cal and con­ser­v­a­tive about their spend­ing and that com­pa­nies must change their mar­ket­ing habits to be suc­cess­ful (read the review).

Shama points out that reces­sion is a new eco­nomic cli­mate.  This shake-up offers a unique oppor­tu­nity for those who can adjust, adapt, and inno­vate.  Dur­ing tough times com­pa­nies can­not afford to spend pre­cious mar­ket­ing dol­lars on adver­tis­ing that does not work. Face-to-face mar­ket­ing to be the most effec­tive, mem­o­rable, and trusted form of mar­ket­ing.  Lis­ten to your cus­tomers and speak to their needs in authen­tic ways they will remember.

What do your cus­tomers want?

What could a rise in SPAM sales pos­si­bly mean for your com­pany?  Ris­ing costs for fuel and feed means many com­pa­nies are pass­ing the buck to con­sumers.  Faced with an eco­nomic down­turn and ris­ing prices many spenders become more dis­cre­tionary and look to cut cor­ners to ease the strain on their wallets.  The peo­ple at Hormel real­ize this and have increased adver­tis­ing for their afford­able meat prod­uct option SPAM.  In a Fox News inter­view Smucker Chair­man and CEO, Tim Smucker says, “In tough eco­nomic times, the com­fort, cost and con­ve­nience of a peanut but­ter and jelly sand­wich gains even greater favor with our con­sumers” (read the arti­cle).  Com­pa­nies like Smuck­ers and Hormel have increased adver­tis­ing, are lis­ten­ing to cus­tomers, have iden­ti­fied the authen­tic nature of their brand, and are offer­ing high value with their prod­ucts.  Both have reported impres­sive earnings.

Proc­tor and Gam­ble is another com­pany that has embraced its role and invested heav­ily in its brands which incluce Charmin toi­let paper, Crest tooth­paste, and Tide detergent.  The com­pany has reported an impres­sive third quar­ter profit rise of 8 per­cent.  “Vir­tu­ally every­thing we sell is not dis­cre­tionary. You know, it′s a sta­ple,” Lafley told ana­lysts. “You have to go to the bath­room. You have to get up in the morn­ing and brush your teeth. You′ve got to shower. You′ve got to shave … you′ve got to wash your clothes,” says A.G. Lafley, P&G′s chair­man and chief exec­u­tive in a Fox News inter­view (read the arti­cle).  Tooth­paste is not optional for con­sumers, but the Crest brand is.  You even have to mar­ket the essentials.

So you don′t sell SPAM or toi­let paper?  Not to worry.  Bent­ley, whose cars retail for upwards of $300,000, reported records in sales and prof­its last year (read the arti­cle).  Even the most opu­lent of lux­ury cars that carry abhor­rent price tags and offend any sense of decency and stew­ard­ship are still being gob­bled up by hun­gry spenders.  The les­son is that although com­pe­ti­tion may be tight, peo­ple are still spend­ing.  The key is to tar­get your spe­cific audience.  I guar­an­tee the peo­ple buy­ing Bent­leys are not the same peo­ple buy­ing up all that SPAM.  “Mar­ket­ing is the craft link­ing pro­duc­ers of goods and ser­vices with cus­tomers” (halfsigma.com).  Don′t break the link.

Be aggres­sive

“A weak econ­omy is not the time to cut back on com­mu­ni­cat­ing with your exist­ing and poten­tial cus­tomers,” writes Jeff, Corn­wall, direc­tor of the Bel­mont Uni­ver­sity Cen­ter for Entre­pre­neur­ship (see his web­site).  Instead of cut­ting back on spend­ing, com­pa­nies should ramp up efforts in order to ener­gize sales.  Corn­wall sug­gests exper­i­ment­ing with dif­fer­ent tac­tics and attach­ing spe­cial offers to each pro­mo­tion to track which ones are the most effective.  Focus on max­i­miz­ing your effec­tive­ness at tradeshows.  Makeover your office, lobby, or show­room to cre­ate a branded space that can stike an emo­tional chord with cus­tomers.  Be more aggres­sive than ever.  Corn­wall cites the sage wis­dom of local Nashville entre­pre­neur, Charles Hagood, “If I had just one dol­lar left to spend in our com­pany, I would spend it on mar­ket­ing” (read the arti­cle).

Related Arti­cles:

• Review: Mar­ket­ing in a Slow-Growth Econ­omy, Avra­ham Shama
• Food Mak­ers Weather Down­turn, Shares Rise
• Cost con­trols, emerg­ing mar­ket growth boosts P&G profit
• Don′t ease up on mar­ket­ing in these slow eco­nomic times
• Brand, Your Most Valu­able Asset

Advent thrives at the fore­front of the cut­ting edge expe­ri­en­tial mar­ket­ing indus­try and for 20 years has helped rapidly grow­ing com­pa­nies com­mu­ni­cate the essence of their brand and vision domes­ti­cally and abroad through exhibits, events, and office envi­ron­ments.  Based in Nashville, Ten­nesse, the com­pany is a cre­ative indus­try leader with For­tune 500 clients like VF Corp and Mars, Inter­na­tional. For more infor­ma­tion, visit http://www.adventresults.com/.

Authored By Advent

Advent partners with organizations to help them visually express differentiation.