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PART 1

So what’s your marketing plan for next quarter? Next year? If you answer, “Yeah, right, in this economy?” You and your business are missing the opportunity to stand out among your competitors. It’s typical for businesses to scaleback their marketing efforts during an economic downturn, but it’s during this time that businesses need to focus on marketing the most.

According to a MarketWatch posting from the Wall Street Journal, “[H]istorically, public relations, marketing and advertising budgets are the first to be cut; however, that could be one of the first mistakes a business makes in an economic crisis.” Cutting marketing programs during a recession can debilitate future marketing efforts and limit opportunities for capturing market share. When the market recovers, distributors who had cut back their marketing programs will be even further behind those who capitalized on the opportunity during the downturn.

Go ahead, cut back on your marketing budget to adapt with the current economic climate, but do not make the mistake of abandoning marketing plans. There are many low-cost, high-impact marketing tactics that will put the spotlight on your business without a marketing team or a large budget.

Target the market

You don’t have enough time or money to reach everyone

Even multinational, billion-dollar companies lack adequate resources to properly promote their businesses and/or products to every single type of customer.

To hone in on the right customers, honestly assess the strengths and weaknesses of your sales team. Ask important questions such as: With which type of customers have they cultivated relationships? Where have they had success in cross-selling or up-selling? How many contact names are in our database?

If you have never sold to hospitals or hotels before, now may not be the time to venture into unknown waters. Consider the ramp-up time for your sales team, along with the investment you’ll need to make in training. Instead of introducing new products to every potential customer, pick one or two relevant vertical markets to focus efforts. Some target markets might include nursing homes, hotels, gyms, education or building service contractors (BSCs).

Select key manufacturing partners

You don’t have enough time or money to promote every product line

Once you’ve identified your customer/target market, determine which of your manufacturer partners are the strongest in that market. Pinpoint your best partners by considering the following questions: