The upshot of marketing during a downturn

Marketing & The R Word. The upshot of marketing during a downturn.

First, a primer.

The recession is top of mind:

Just ask Google.

Google Trends, “Recession”.

It doesn’t take a mind reader

to know what people are thinking.

What do consumers think?

They are anxious.They are pragmatic.They are frugal.They delay.

THE END

IS NIGH.

SO, it’s tough out there.

Times are trying.

Business is slow.

The end is nigh.

Unless you play your cards right.

Here are 10 steps to do just that.

Step 1

Analyze. Prune. Build.

Analyze your business.Find what’s working.Eliminate what isn’t.

H.O.W.?R.

I.

If you can’t track success, you can’t

avoid future failure.

Track everything. Emails. Websites. Advertising. Facebook...

everything

0% 10% 20% 30% 40% 50% 60% 70% 80% 90%

If you can’t measure it,

you’re going

to have a tough time selling it to the CFO.

It’s not easy. But survival never is.

Step 2

Hug your customers

delight them.

delight them.

delight them.

delight them.

delight them.

delight them.

delight them.

delight them.

Delighted customers spend more, buy more and pay higher margins than

non-delighted customers.

And they’ll talk to friends and convince them to do the same.

Ahh, there’s nothing like the sweet sound of word-of-mouth marketing in a downturn.

so...

How do you delight a customer?

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Start by speaking their language.

Beginnen Sie, indem Sie ihre Sprache sprechen.

Begin door hun taal te spreken.

Inizi parlando il loro linguaggio.

Commencez par parler leur langage.

言語を話すことによる開始。

그들의 언어를 말해서 시작.

通過告訴他們的語言開始。

Engage them. Empathize with and relate to them.

Look at how you’re talking with your audience.

one clear message?Are they getting

REMEM

BER:

GO WHER

E

THEY

GO.

It’s a new world. It’s not just TV, radio and newspaper. It’s Facebook and YouTube and magnetic Starbucks cups attached to cars.

Think Experiential Marketing.It lets you get up close and personal with your audience.

example: Make-A-Wish.

A child wished he could meet a Star Wars Storm Trooper.Simple, right?

Thing is, we wanted this to be a cause for celebration.

So we brought him to Pioneer Place in downtown Portland.

But we didn’t introduce him to a Storm Trooper.

We introduced him to a streetcar full of Storm Troopers.

Now that’s a delighted customer.

THE POINT:

The media can change.

Your message can’t.

Step 3

Focus on who not to target.

67%of marketers say refining target audiences is a key strategy for surviving an economic downturn.

We couldn’t agree more.

Narrow your focus. Invest in a market segmentation study.

See where business is coming from and target it with laser-precision.

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Next, separate your audience into fifths and assign a cost

of acquisition to each segment.

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How much is that bottom 20% really adding to your business?

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$ $$ $

Or better yet, how much are you spending trying to reach that bottom 20%?

Step 4

Invest in growth

Use whatever resources you have,

study your markets, see where growth will come from. And invest.

Step 5It’s the message, stupid.

Forget the medium. The moment is the message.

And right now, the

economy

is front and center.

Is your message working with the economy? Or against it?

WILL WORK FOR WORK.

THESEDAYS TRUMPSVALUE LUXURY

Kool Aid is hyping up how many drinks a consumer gets from each package and how the cost of each drink compares to the cost of a can of Coke.

Hyundai goes beyond

“Employee Pricing” to

“Job Loss Protection.”

They’re going with the financial flow.

Chances are you’ll have to do the same.

$ $ $$$ $

$ $ $ $$$

$$

Oh, and value? It’s more than just money.

Hilton described its 2007

Hilton Garden Inn advertising

campaign in a press release:

“The focus of the advertisement is not the bed, but rather the guest. Emphasizing people first is part of the brand’s overall goal to help travelers work smart, stay fit, eat well and offer the services and amenities for travelers to have everything. Right where they need it.”

Slide 82 Amen.

Amen.

Marketing research can tell you what your customers are thinking, feeling and saying.

Invest in it and you won’t regret it.

Remember:

•Speaktheirlanguage.

•Livetheirworld.

•Understandthem.

Step 6

Think Different.

When everyone’s busy zigging,

it’s time to start zagging.

Marketers can get pretty conservative during a downturn. And that’s okay.

What’s okay? not

Blending in.

be different Just be smart about how you do it.

Apple did it with the iPod and iPhone. IBM did it by switching from hardware to software. Cadillac did it by connecting with a younger audience.

And Oscar Meyer?

Two words...

Weiner

Mobile

Being different doesn’t have to be expensive.

We did it by creating DearAgency.com, a site that lets an unhappy marketer send a Dear John letter to their agency.

The site has received 10,000 visitors since its launch, with about $500 in marketing and an aggressive blogging campaign.

And we’ve received some promising new business inquir ies as a result .

Step 7

Price it Right

Pani

c pr

icin

g w

on’t

wor

k.

A sm

art pr

icin

g st

rate

gy w

ill.

Retail business?Instead of dropping prices on your high priced products, create flanking products that deliver lower price to lower value customers.

$100$10

Service business? Evaluate your customers and focus on those with better cash flow. And don’t forget to be flexible with your margins. A smaller margin today could create larger margins tomorrow.

Consider short-term promotions to drive traffic and interest.Coupon redemption is on the rise. Strike while the iron is hot.

Just be smart about it.

Too many coupons and you’ll train your customers to wait for specials.

Step 8Go Souk

A Middle Eastern Market with lots of perishable product.

A perishable product.

Souk:Media:

What dothey have

in common?(Besides perishable products?)

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negotiation.

So strap on your fez, because when times get tough, the tough get negotiating.

Media companies are quite willing to negotiate off the rate card.

The trick?You have to ask.And they’ll usually reward you to the tune of lower pricing or bonus spots.

Step 9The Why Nots? o

f Ne

w M

ed

ia.

IN2006 your website was rocking.

Its 2009.

Is your site still rocking? Or merely rolling?

(maybe it’s time for new wheels)

So how is yourreputation?Track and adjust using new tools.Watch the social media conversation.

What are the Tweets

saying about you?

Now’s a good time to consider mobile marketing, too.

It’s competitive.

It’s affordable.

It’s a new database.

It’s easy to implement.

It’s in everyone’s pocket.

And it’s a great way to

get another edge on

your competition.

Step 10

The Future

Wha

t w

ill it

brin

g?

Will

the economy bounce back? How will global warming affect us?

And most importantly…

WILL THE CUBS FINALLY BREAK THE CURSE?

But know this: social media will be a big part of it.

Embrace social media and you’ll connect with your audience in a big way.

Remember: go where they go.

If your audience is

Younger=MySpace

A bit older=Facebook

Business-oriented=LinkedIn

Always “on”=Twitter

Visit their profiles. Read their blogs.

Make sure your brand reflects what they’re thinking and saying.

Social media will play a vital role in marketing, branding, research…even recruitment.

Make sure your brand is playing along.

Now, and well into the future.

If only predicting the weather was this easy.

Want to know more?

Ask, and ye shall receive.

Peter Levitan, CEO, Citrus

541.419.2309

[email protected]

www.citrusbegin.com