5 Marketing Ideas For A Slow Economy. Okay, Any Economy.

Of course, every department manager will tell you that his or her functions are crucial to the day-to-day operation of the business when staffs and budgets are being downsized, so what's different about marketing that makes it especially true? Well, for starters, the moment you slow or stop your firm's marketing, your brand presence will start eroding, your leads will start to dry up, and your sales team will begin to lose confidence in their ability to attract inquiries and close deals. Everyone acknowledges that during hard times, we need to convert some of our spending into sweat equity. But it's especially important to work smarter, too. Here are five things smart marketers can – and should – do, particularly in a recession, to maintain brand preference, generate leads and convert visitors to inquiries, all while keeping costs low. In fact, these are just the kinds of things you should be doing all the time!

Attract more leads through natural search

If you need to start cutting your ad spending in journals, online venues, or pay-per-click campaigns, natural search can come to the rescue. While SEO isn't an ultra-fast cure, spending more manpower on this process during off-peak business activity will have huge benefits in the long run, like saving lots of that dough you'd otherwise spend on paid advertising in the future for the same (or better) results.

SEO usually requires a partnership between the client and a search expert, because what the SEO consultant recommends typically needs to be implemented by the client. In many cases, the search expert's skills can be taught, helping to make you, the client, an expert in your field with less and less dependence on the consultant over time.

Convert a greater proportion of inquiries on your website

If you succeed in attracting new visitors to your website in a poor economy, you've really finished only half the battle. You need to make the most of every lead, especially now, and that means providing tools and incentives for visitors to take further actions to pre-qualify themselves as potential customers, and hopefully leave their contact information for future permission marketing.

Consider applying these conversion opportunities within your site. Some are harder than others, but the easy ones can be implemented fairly quickly and start generating rewards right away:

Add an "Ask An Expert" form: This encourages visitors to ask a commercial or technical question without filling out a complicated form or obligating themselves to a quote or purchase, but it does require the respondent to leave his/her contact details. This allows you to start developing a relationship with a potential customer by being helpful instead of pushy.

Add an online chat to your site: Easier than you think and more flexible too. BoldChat, for example, costs about $30.00/month for 2 seats (2 concurrent chats) and it can be set up to alert several internal contacts, so whoever's available can take the inquiry, even by smart phone. Same benefits as above.

Build a product selection tool and/or product comparison tool that helps your potential customers find and evaluate the right products easily. On the results page, make sure you provide links to relevant technical data sheets and inquiry forms (plus Ask An Expert), to invite the respondent to make contact at his or her comfort level.

Secure customer loyalty using relationship marketing

Assuming you've been diligent about collecting and maintaining customer/prospect contact details, you can deploy unlimited permission marketing emails at very low cost. The important thing is to make a plan, so you're not just throwing everything you can think of whenever you want to at your permission list. If you do, more people will opt out from annoyance than will be converted by any perceived benefit. Again, be helpful, not pushy. Develop messages that position your company and its products as a partner to your prospects and customers in trying times.

I usually recommend a mix of email types, ranging from product announcements to short newsletters. In fact, the shorter the better. Your reader should be able to get the message in just a few seconds. If it's a newsletter, you might use two or three one-sentence teasers that link to a full story on your website (like this newsletter). For the full article on the site, make sure you incorporate conversion techniques to capture the prospect while he's interested.

Create brand leadership with industry sponsorships

To supplement your own permission marketing efforts, consider tagging along on industry trade newsletters. The better ones are highly respected and growing in popularity. In fact, online spending is expected to overtake print ad spending in 2010, proving that what buyers want is now online more often than in print. Do your research to make sure you're hitching your wagon to the brightest star, then be sure to schedule your sponsorships intelligently.

Of all the tips in this article, this one is probably the most expensive, so you'll need to be judicious. One way to think about using paid sponsorships is to concentrate a flurry of messaging around a big show or a new product launch to maximize impact and brand recognition. The other way to do it is plan a regular schedule that you can afford, and that your audience will likely remember. The upside about industry trade newsletters is that they are usually very well targeted to relevant, interested prospects, so you know your message will be presented to the right people.

So stay in the game and position your company as a winner. And if you need assistance, give us a call. Contact Alan at agladish@praxisagency.com.