Advertising In Lean Times
For businesses large and small, the first part of the budget to get cut is advertising when times get tough. In some cases, these cuts are necessary, but most often they are a mistake. In fact, many savvy business owners are actually increasing advertising. History has shown that companies that advertise in slow times are the first to emerge when the economic tides switch.

In the study, "Media Advertising When Your Market is in a Recession" by Dr. Valerie Kijewski, it was found that firms that aggressively spent on advertising during a recession period outperformed firms that did not by almost 250 percent. When customers are ready to buy, they buy from the places they have heard from regularly. If you are like most small to medium-sized businesses (like us at TMA) there are some cost effective marketing strategies you can employ to keep business growing during a slow economy.

Contact all your former customers. Call anyone you have ever worked with on a project or sold your product to. Let them know that you are updating your client database.

Ask them if you can verify names, addresses, phone numbers, emails, etc. Tell them that you are looking forward to working with them in the future. Ask them if they wouldn't mind giving you referrals. Also ask them for any feedback that would help you serve them better, and more importantly, thank them for their business.

If you are in a service industry, such as a restaurant, contacting all your former customers can be a little tricky. If you have been gathering customer email addresses, use them. Otherwise, radio and newspaper are most effective. Stay top of mind by running promotional offers, thanking them for their loyalty and inviting them back. Educate your staff on how to make genuine personal connections with your patrons... this will ensure return visits.

Promote your business. Have you had any major changes within your company? Did you hire new staff or relocate your offices? Have you purchased new equipment or developed a new product that will give you a competitive edge? Let your current and potential customers know about it. Send them a postcard, give them a call or send an email. Spending time evaluating every area of your business, developing partnerships and building customer relationships is a better investment than keeping your money under the mattress.

Use your web site effectively. Is your web site generating leads? Are you using it to communicate news and updates from your company? Make sure your web site is valuable enough to current and potential customers to keep them coming back to it.

Maintain your market presence during slow times and you will be out ahead of the pack when the market picks up!

"In an economy like this, it's even more important to keep your message out there, because when the economy does improve, you want to be top of mind," Matt Bucher, Marketing and Business Development Coordinator, HNI Risk Services Inc.