Historically speaking, during times of recession, businesses that stay strong and don’t disappear from sight will pull through. Great, but how do we pay for our continued marketing efforts? Where does the money come from? I get the idea, but implementing is another beast. Here’s my take on all of this. I agree, stay out there and don’t climb in a cave and hope it all goes away soon. That’s counter-productive. You need to keep moving forward. But, pull it back some. Define your budget more carefully and use the time to analyze whether or not a particular marketing strategy is working for you. Now is the perfect time to get creative in your methods and take a few risks with some new thinking. You might even say, now is a good time to be a little more bold than you have traditionally been. Bold might get noticed more.

O.K. But how do we do that?

Start with some careful scrutiny of what you have done. Break it down into all the traditional methods: print ads, direct mail, advertising, radio, TV and all the other pieces. Make a list of pros and cons for each. How do you know if its working or not? Do you get feedback from customers? Is it an expensive form of media? Can we achieve similar results with another approach? Can we get very specific about the center of our target audience? Can we reach those people another way? Are we offering a service or product that gets noticed? Stands apart from the competitor? Can we do better? Ask yourself these questions, and put some careful thought into it. Maybe some pattern will show up. Maybe some weak areas will present themselves. Maybe some serious over spending will suddenly be clear. Think about your assets and what your customer enjoys about you. And push that thinking further.

I prefer to be optimistic. I truly think this will turn around, but realistically it will take a bit of time. In the mean time, we’re all in this together. We can keep our businesses above water and make it through the backside. We’d like to help you however we can, no matter what your budget. And maybe, you’ll find that your marketing is better and stronger than before.