Targeting the market - By Fred Schebesta

Over the past few weeks the news has been saturated with bank failures, bailout talks and budget crunches.

The fact that we may be about to hit a recession is touching a deep nerve in our business community.

With the threat of recession looming one of the most consistent mistakes businesses make is the reduction or elimination of their marketing activities.

When times are good it's a given that business market. When times are tough it is even more important that businesses continue to get their message across and stay in touch with their target audience.

The obvious bottom line: consumers won't buy from companies if they can no longer see or hear from them.

For companies wishing to emerge from the economic downturn stronger and healthier, the message is simple: maintain your presence in the marketplace.

By continuing to create noise you will ensure that you continue to gain valuable ground and stay one step ahead of your competition.

How to fight in a market downturn

It is often a fact that during times of economic downturn, companies tend to follow the herd's direction rather then looking at what strategies would best work for them.

By cutting back on marketing most companies leave the door wide open providing opportunity for their competitors.

Companies that are able to recognise an impending downturn and implement targeted communication plans while their competitors cut back build very strong brands that they can then capitalise on when the market inevitably picks up.

By focusing your marketing efforts on a tighter group of prospects and refraining from combat in marginal areas you can hone in on your target market more effectively.

The top three areas to focus your marketing on are:

Current customers: Up-sell, Resell and Service your existing customers.

Future prospects: who have contacted you? Remarket to those that have previously contacted you and convert them.

80/20 rule:  Focus on the responsive markets and ease up on trying to conquer new difficult markets.

Give yourself a reality check on who your core customers are and focus on these.

The easy way to figure this out is to profile your customers to determine their lifetime value and figure out which group you have the most of. Usually 20% of your customers will be making you 80% of your profit.

Focus on attracting more of these with your limited campaigns.

Marketing tactics to focus on

One of the greatest challenges in an economic downturn is how to use all available resources in the most efficient manner.

Although positioning is always going to be important, the focus of any successful campaign in today's market needs to implement a performance marketing strategy and to re-allocate budgets to activities which deliver results.

Search engine marketing. Quality customers searching for services or products you supply.

Reuse templates.  Reuse campaign creative work which has already performed well. Just change the images and text slightly to save costs on production. The creative will be refreshed in this process and will probably continue to perform.

Distressed inventory. Negotiate for performance buys as most media publishers will start to flounder in meeting their targets.

They will start offering very cheap rates in a response. Hold off on your schedules and wait for the pressure to be applied, resist the lie that you will miss bookings as there will be less competition for the spots you wish to buy.

Existing customer databases.  Continue and engage in meaningful conversations with your prospects.

Since you do not need to spend huge amounts of time planning and managing extra campaigns, make the communications you are doing better quality by investing more time in them.

Affiliate marketing. Pay only when someone sends you a customer.

Share the risk of your marketing challenge with the publisher. The affiliate marketing industry is one of the most underutilised resources in the marketer's toolbox.

Call up an expert and ask for a consultation about this marketing channel and get involved.

With the threat of recession looming, branding strategies in this tightened economy may seem like a distant memory. However, to acquire a select focused set of customers is achievable and may be the answer to riding out the storm.
How to outshine your competition
The typical knee-jerk reaction of cutting budgets indiscriminately may not be the best answer, and in fact may have a much greater cost to your business over time.

By becoming creative and utilising all the resources you have available you can still snatch market share from competitors with a targeted marketing strategy that delivers results.

Fred Schebesta is the director of online direct marketing company, Freestyle Media, which specialises in driving traffic to websites. He is the author of How to create an Online Marketing Campaign that Sells. www.FreestyleMedia.com.au