Sales are Down! Spend more on Marketing?? Not so fast.

We've all heard it before. Your sales are down..."You need to spend more on marketing!" As the head of a marketing company, I'm supposed to repeat this mantra to every business owner I meet. Guess what... I don't.

The economy is experiencing a downturn. It's not affecting all of us, but it is effecting a good portion of local businesses out there...including our clients here at Concept Media. For a good chunk of our clients, their response to the economic slump can be categorized in two ways:

1. Cut all unnecessary spending!

2. We're not getting the word out enough. Spend more on marketing!

I think the real answer is somewhere in the middle. My mantra is:

Spend less....spend SMARTER.

It is the perfect time to really look at your marketing dollars and learn the art of being more efficient and looking at the biggest "bang for the buck". If you are doing your own media buying and planning, now is the time to put your media rep's feet to the fire.

First, determine WHO you need to put your message in front of. Second, put all of your marketing dollars down on paper (what you're spending, and where). Third, of all of your marketing...what is doing the best job of hitting WHO you want to market to? Rank your media and campaigns accordingly.

Now you call your friendly local media rep and ask them, again, for the information about the readership #'s and demographics. That will tell you how much your $xxx investment is getting you. If your ad is putting you in front of 50,000 of the right prospects each month..,and they can prove it...and it costs you pennies per lead, that's a decent investment. If they can't provide you real numbers, and they're just not convincing you....Run. Yank your dollars. Now is not the time for "I just think we should do these ads...they make me feel good." Now is the time for "biggest bang for our buck".

So what, for your business, is the smartest form of marketing? That's going to vary greatly from business to business. I can recommend that you should definitely not skimp on your web presence. Getting on the web is relatively cheap, it's a dynamic form of marketing, and it's the primary form of research for many of your prospective customers. People are saving money wherever they can right now...and many are achieving that by leaving the car in the garage and sitting at home...watching TV.. with their laptop computer (like I am...right now!). See where I'm going with this? Look at it from both sides of the fence...figure out how you can benefit.

So, let's recap:

1. The economy is down.

2. It's time to market smarter.

3. The web is a cheap and smart way of marketing for many businesses.

Need help reviewing this year's marketing plan? Shoot me an email.