The natural tendency in uncertain economic times, and with the government announcing new plans and tactics every other day, is to cut back on all expenses for your business. Often businesses will cut back on their promotional expenditures, including direct mail campaigns. This is a big mistake. Here's why.
You probably know that direct marketing and promotion are vital to the survival of your business. Even if you feel like you have enough business right now, because of attrition, certain of your customers will eventually fall off. So it is vital not just to deliver good service to your existing customers, but to continually promote for new customers. This is especially true if your goal is not just to stay at the same level but to expand your business.
In an economic situation like we are in right now, with a banking crisis and a credit crunch and Congress debating various bailout packages for banks, insurance companies and even automakers, the tendency for your customers will be to cut back on their expenses. They may have already started buying less of your product or service, even if the product or service is something they definitely need. Or you may have customers falling off altogether.
In the face of such a situation, it is more vital than ever to be continually promoting your business via direct mail and other media. Cutting back on your promotion or cutting out one or more of your major promotional actions is a bad move. If anything, it is better to increase your direct mail and other promotional efforts during such a period. You have to find new, cost-effective ways to promote, and you have to find new ways to communicate your benefits to customers, to keep current customers on and win new ones. You have to get better at your marketing and promotion than you were before, and find ways to overcome your prospect’s fear of the economic climate.
I read somewhere recently, that if you continue promoting during a period when your competitors are cutting back on their promotion, then at the end of that economic downturn period you will have expanded and they will have contracted. In other words, you'll eat their lunch and take a share of their business away. If you promote consistently and smartly during a period when competition is cutting back, you have a chance to be the dominant player in your market when the downturn is over.
Over the years that I have worked in the direct marketing field, I have seen several times where companies decided to cut back on direct mail and other promo, usually because their income was tight. In each case it made the situation worse for the company to cut back on promo, and the company usually contracted as a result.
These are tough times. Everyone is a little worried about the economy, and no one is particularly fat right now (except maybe government). And figuring out ways to keep promoting or even increasing your promotion during such a time is not easy. And you have to get your message right, which will often require surveying your target public to know what they need and want and what motivates them. But if you figure out how to keep the promo rolling out, on a consistent basis, you’ll survive and thrive.
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