Whether you’re doing guerrilla marketing or advertising on the radio or television, the more accurately you target your ideal customer, the better your success will be. There are two habits most business people tend to fall into.

1.         Grab all the sales you can get.

This is completely understandable and only natural for an aggressive sales person or business owner. But, what it does is distract your targeting efforts away from the customers who will ultimately be most profitable. In order to make your marketing efforts as efficient as possible, take the time to really identify your “platinum customer”. How much do they spend? What is their life-time value as a customer? What do they buy? What common thing causes them to buy? How easy are they to deal with?

Sure, grab all the sales you can get. But, if you concentrate on grabbing all the sales you can get FROM YOUR PLATINUM CUSTOMER, you will pick up sales from the rest. And, your marketing dollars will give you a better return over time.

2.         Target your primary demographic.

This is a good start, but not good enough. Demographic refers to age and gender. Consider the following audiences based upon age and gender: a 35-year old female.

1. She’s in a business suit with a briefcase and occupies a downtown office making 6-figures a year.
2. She’s single, on a bus with two kids and food stamps.
3. She’s married with three kids and she’s in a minivan full of little soccer players.
4. She has orange spiked hair, a nose ring and works at an art studio.

As you can see, all of these women are the same demographic. But, they are vastly different audiences. In order to target your customer in a meaningful way, you must know more about them than age and gender. You need to know their education level and income range. You need to know what their values are. Do they value function over form like an engineer, or form over function like an artist? How do they spend their discretionary income? What are their leisure time activities?

The more you know about your best customers, the more efficiently you will be able to find them. The more accurately you will be able to deliver a meaningful message to them. And, the more valuable you will become to them because you are providing exactly what they need.

Rob Charlton

If you’ve been holding off marketing your business in order to save money through the recession, you’d better change your strategy now, or face losing market share. It’s not a secret anymore. Any savvy business person knows that maintaining an aggressive marketing strategy through a recession strengthens sales and increases market share. And, they typically get that extra market share from their competitors who are not as aggressive.

A problem with this recession is that it was so bad even owners and managers who knew the right thing to do were hard pressed to execute it due to lack of cash flow. In some ways, that leveled the playing field a little. But, we are now entering an interesting time of great opportunity for any business owner who is able to step up ahead of his or her competition.

Consumer Confidence is most important to retailers.
Consumer confidence is a significant factor in the recovery, but is particularly significant to retailers. Consumer spending represents about 70% of the US economy, which has a direct effect on retailers.

The Consumer Confidence Conference Board  has been surveying houseolds since 1967. A score of 90 represents a healthy economy. 100 equals strong growth. The recession low score was 25 in February, 2009. In August it measured 54.1, up from 47.4 in July. And, it is the highest it’s been since December of 2007.

Consumer confidence is increasing.
The latest survey strongly indicates that consumer pessimism is lifting. The job market, while still weak, is stabilizing. People aren’t as afraid about losing thjeir jobs. And, as a result, they are more confident about spending.  The evidence lies not just in this report, but in what we’ve seen with our retail advertising accounts. Business is picking up. It’s slow, sometimes in fits and starts. But, it is picking up.

With consumer spending beginning to shake loose, now is the time to craft the most agressive marketing strategy your budget will allow. Lean into it with all your might. It’s not too late to push yourself further toward the front of the line while your competitors are still waiting to see what’s going to happen.

If you’re in a position where you have a handful of key customers or accounts, your most critical marketing strategy right now should be enhancing personal relationships. The strength of customer loyalty is tested during bad economic times. So it’s important to make sure you work to make it harder for current customers to tell you goodbye.

In a recessionary economy, savvy business people know that building market share is the key to success. They also know that many customers are more apt to make a change because they are open to any suggestion that a different solution might benefit them somehow. So, they are on the prowl for your customers, just as you should be on the prowl for theirs.

Obviously, you need to continue to deliver a quality product at a competitive price. And these days, even include some added value however possible. But, the intangible advantage of having a close relationship with your customer adds an extra level of security to your business. This doesn’t mean you should run out and start layering on gifts or inviting them to dinner. If you’re over-zealous you’ll look desperate and insecure. It might take no more than an extra phone call or two every month just to check in. Or, depending upon your current relationship, it could include a trip to the golf course or some other activity you can share.

It is times such as these when deals get renegotiated and alliances get realigned. You need to use every trick in the book to keep your customers close to you. Strengthening your personal relationships is one of the best ways to do that.

More and more indicators are pointing to an economic recovery. That means marketers must look past their recession strategy and begin planning their recovery marketing strategy.

I have witnessed businesses cutting overhead, cutting jobs and salaries, closing branches, cutting marginal lines and doing all the things necessary to survive. Most have already done just about everything they can do, and are managing to struggle through.

Finally, Saturday’s Oregonian reported: “Battered economy looking a bit better”. By the way, while some of the indicators they reported were recent, I think evidence existed three or four weeks ago, and the newspaper is woefully behind in its reporting. Current unemployment figures are better than expected, the bank stress test showed that banks are in better shape than experts were expecting, the Dow has been up 8 weeks out of the past 9, and the NASDAQ has been up 9 straight weeks.

So, with these positive signs, it becomes clear that sharp marketers who recognize the importance of staying in front of trends must be planning how to address the change now.

Here are seven recommendations for marketers looking to plan ahead, made in a recent article by John Quelch, a professor at Harvard Business School.

1. FOCUS ON HIGH POTENTIAL CUSTOMERS
Identify those who may have been putting off the buying decision and speak to them first.

2. DON’T ASSUME A RETURN TO NORMAL
This long, deep recession is more likely to permanently change consumer attitudes and behaviors. Be sure to listen and watch carefully the signals they are sending you.

3. ASSESS TARGET CUSTOMER TRUST
Companies, especially financial companies, have taken a beating in the past several months. Add services and support to boost your trust with customers.

4. STAY FOCUSED ON COST
This long recession has created a downward pressure on prices that will not go away with the recovery.

5. KNOW YOUR LEAD INDICATORS
What do you notice that precedes or validates your customer behaviors? Identify those and pay attention to them.

6. DEVELOP SCENARIOS
Since there is no way for you to know exactly what will happen or when, you must be prepared to adjust your marketing to fluctuations of surprisingly robust sales and short periods of reversal.

7. DON’T WAIT FOR PERMISSION
Start planning now. Don’t wait for an official announcement that the recession is over. By that time, you will be behind your competitors.

Most savvy business owners and managers know that the best marketing strategy during a recession is to advertise as aggressively as possible. But, just in case you need some reinforcement to support that truism, consider the following information.

The first study conducted to measure the effectiveness of marketing during a recession was conducted by Rolland Vaile during the recession of 1923. He later published his report in the Harvard Business Review. It showed the biggest sales increases throughout the period during and following the recession were rung up by the companies that advertised the most.

The next studies were done during the recessions of 1949 and 1954. Again, results showed that companies that advertised had the most sales. But more importantly, it showed the companies that did not advertise not only lost sales during the recession, but continued to lag behind after the recession.

More studies were done during the recessions of 1958 and 1961 with the same results. But, this time they also measured profits. In every case, companies who quit or cut back advertising lost market share and lagged behind those who maintained their budgets.

Another study was done during the recession of 1970 with the same result. Then McGraw Hill conducted a study during the recession of 1981 and 1982 with the same result. Then David Ogilvy’s agency Group Center for R&D did one during the 1990 recession. You guessed it: the same result.

That’s ten separate studies over an eighty year period and every one of them returned the same result.

This is the time to be aggressive with your marketing. This is not to say you should be foolish with your budget and spend more than you can afford. But, don’t do what so many business people do, which is to take the fastest and easiest route to cutting overhead by slashing their marketing budget while hanging onto other expenses that could be trimmed.

There have been many studies over time that have proven that advertising during a recession results in better sales during the recession and more explosive growth after it’s over. In fact, most business people whom I’ve met know and understand this principle quite well. But, many continue to advertise using the same strategies they were using when the economy was robust.

A recession is an altogether different business landscape and must be approached with strategies that take this into account. We know that people tend to nest during a recession. Home and family become more important along with things that represent more traditional values.

Other traditional recessionary behavior includes changes in business relationships. Contract and finance terms tend to get renegotiated. Customers are more cautious with their purchases, as are businesses. People are more price sensitive. Customers may even trade down to less expensive models or temporarily quit buying some products.

Studies show that this behavior is caused more due to uncertainty of the future than a lack of funds. So, knowing all this, here is a short list of strategies that work best during a recession.

1.
People are looking for reassurance. Implement strategies that make buyers feel they are minimizing risk. Maybe enhance your guarantee or return policy. Or just include it more prominently in your messages.

2.
People are more comfortable with familiar things. Capitalize on your brand equity to reduce uncertainty. Include testimonials from past customers in your ads, or use product demonstrations. This might be a good time to remind customers of your longevity in the community. Implement a loyal customer program. Sponsor local events or activities. Ramp up your guerrilla marketing efforts and increase one-on-one visibility.

3.
If your product is a discretionary purchase, you may have to work harder to identify that which motivates people to buy and how the current climate is preventing them from acting. You may be forced to stimulate sales through extra incentives such as price cuts, financing offers, extra service or added value. Many marketing experts say you should avoid discounting. The truth is that sometimes you have to include that in the mix.

4.
If your product is a low priced discretionary purchase, emphasize the “reward” incentive. People will reward themselves with small indulgences because it makes them feel good and they feel like they deserve it.

5.
Include cost saving ideas, ways to help your customer’s dollar go farther, or ways to get more use out of your product.

6.
Many people think there are too many sales until they are in the market for something. Then they look for a sale. Have short bursts of extremely attractive sales, surrounded by a solid branding campaign that emphasizes value and service.

7.
For business to business, concentrate on personal relationships, especially with current customers. Competitors will be targeting them.

8.
For business to business, concentrate on messages about products and activities that will improve your customer’s bottom line.

9.
Concentrate on your core. Identify what you sell most of and sell the heck out of it. Identify what you do best, and ramp up your efforts even more. Identify who your biggest, most likely customers are and target them well.

10.
Implement an interactive strategy that makes connections with your best customers. Keep them engaged and demonstrate to them that you value them. There are many avenues, from blogging to e-mailing to Facebook, and yes, even Twitter. There is a combination that is best for you. Figure it out and do it.

You won’t be doing everything that is listed here. But this should provide you with enough food for thought that you can take what is appropriate and run with it.

Sometimes just finding that two of our clients have similar needs is the genesis for a marketing advantage. Take California Closets & West Side Electric. They both wanted to use television and both wanted to reach essentially the same target audience. So, we produced a 15 second ad for each of them & married the ads into a 30-second ad. California Closets buys a schedule on one of the network stations and West Side Electric buys a schedule of about equal value on a series of cable shows that deal with design, remodeling, upgrading houses, etc. In both cases each of our clients has a schedule of 15-second ads running back to back with the other. The cost is less than buying 15’s by themselves and both clients are happy.

We have, in the past, traded space on the back of a direct mail piece for media time. The media gets to have print exposure and our client receives media at no cash cost. Again, both of them are happy.

These are both low tech solutions to client problem/opportunities. It doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective. Sometimes we produce very edgy stuff…but only when it is called for.