How to Market During a Down Economy
In a down economy, consumers are less willing to spend. Decreased demand results in increased competition for consumers' dollars among merchants. An economy-savvy marketing strategy can give you an edge over the competition, ensuring that consumers will come to you when they're ready to spend.
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Instructions
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Boost your marketing budget. Your first inclination as sales dip might be to trim your budget, including how much you set aside for marketing. That's a mistake. In fact, increasing your investment in marketing can help you now more than ever.
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Assess your marketing efforts to determine which ones are working and which are not. Eliminate strategies that are not proving as fruitful as others and focus your dollars on those that bring in maximum return.
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Gain an understanding of your customers, including their demographic characteristics and any issues that may be affecting them as the result of a down economy, such as unemployment, underemployment and foreclosure.
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Create marketing campaigns that show readers you understand their situations and needs and are there to help them. In a down economy, when people are focusing less on spending and more on family, marketing campaigns depicting family and family values are the way to go, suggests a Bloomberg Business Week article. Provide a value-added experience for both existing and potential customers. For instance, you could create an electronic newsletter that goes out to people who sign up to receive it. The newsletter could have, in addition to information of upcoming sales or specials, articles of interest to readers about the specific industry you serve. For instance, if you run a pool supply company, your customers and potential customers may enjoy reading about how to prepare a pool for the winter or get chemical levels right after not using the pool all winter long.
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Give customers and potential customers the opportunity to win freebies. People will come in to sign up for raffles and contests, and they may also stay and purchase something while they're there.
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References
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