In 2009, the economy is making your decision-making process a heck of a lot harder than it was in 2007, or even 2008. Obama is in the Oval Office, and he has some grand plans, but it’s going to take a long time for the benefits to trickle down to you and your customers.
Have you considered what you need to do as a small business owner, a department head, or a front-line supervisor? How do you keep your profit-margin respectable when your customers have less money to spend and so do you?
The key in a down-turn economy is marketing. It may seem counter-intuitive, especially if you are used to marketing being expensive. But the fact is, if you allow your marketing program to suffer the same cutbacks as some other extraneous business expenses, you’re going to find your revenue tanking faster than it should, AND when the economy starts turning around, you’re not going to recover as fast.
This is an age-old paradox that businesses of all size have wrestled with for centuries, but it especially effects the smaller businesses who don’t have millions in cash reserves to feed the furnace while you wait for the oil truck to show up. All too often, an otherwise savvy business owner will hunker down in a down-turn economy, saving every penny, cutting back everywhere in an effort to stay afloat. The trouble is, customers have a pitifully short memory, and chances are slim they’ll know who you are by the time you see the sun again.
So how do you maintain a progressive marketing plan that is financially responsible in 2009? Here are a few low-cost or free suggestions for maintaining your marketing in a down-turn economy:
- Develop and push a customer-retention and appreciation program: You need to maximize the value of every single customer you service. Make sure you have valuable information and/or incentives waiting for them to enjoy in exchange for their contact information. Send them newsletters with special promotions. Send them greeting cards, thank you cards, call them on the phone if it’s appropriate. Anything that tells them you’re not just a business person, you’re a valuable and friendly member of their community.
- Set up a customer referral program: Closely connected with the paragraph above, start letting your loyal customers bring you more loyal customers. I don’t need to preach to you about the value of word-of-mouth advertising. Give away discounts on future purchases, rewards, a logo baseball cap… anything to make your customer WANT to tell their friends, their family, their workmates! Everyone knows a hundred other people that may never even realize you exist unless they hear it from your customer!
- Make sure your customer service skills and quality are top notch: This should go without saying, regardless of the state of the economy. But without good customer service and a quality product to offer, you shouldn’t be in business in the first place. You don’t have to worry about retaining customers or asking them to refer others, because your business isn’t worth it. It’s THAT important.
In future posts, I’ll discuss some more practical ways to maintain your marketing plan in the current economy, but these three items form a vital cornerstone on which all your other efforts should be built. By focusing first on these three items, your plan builds constant momentum that will eventually sustain itself. These three items will also help cushion you against deep downturns, or against marketing ideas that don’t pan out for one reason or another, giving you the opportunity to regroup and try something new.
