Marketing around penny pinching

It seems like any time a company has a financial down turn the one of the first budgets that get slashed is the marketing budget. Marketing seems like a fluff expense and besides you need to focus on your core set of customers in this time of economic upheaval.


Warning!!! This is dangerous!

Who is it that sets the conversation that your business has with your customers? Yes the teller or the sales associates have some communication with your customers, and a very important one, but your marketing is how you communicate with your customers when they are not at your store, your website, or your location.

Marketing sends out the message of what your selling, where its provided, how it benefits them, and in today’s world most importantly who you are as a company. If you cut off your outside contact your new customer draw will steadily decline, if your not bringing in new customers and your current customers begin to decline through slow attrition, dissatisfaction, relocation, and death, you have not just halted growth but have actually begun to decline.

Businesses must work to have an active dialogue with customers and if you turn off that dialogue people will begin to wonder away and find someone who will have a dialogue with them. Any marketer who has tried knows that even starting the conversation with customers and potential customers in the first place is hard, let alone if you have lost their trust or attention by cutting it off midstream.

 

What if tomorrow though, you woke up and, all of your marketing budget had been taken away? What if you had no budget and had to find ways to drive business? What would you do?

First think about free. What do you have that you could offer to your customers, ideally your best customers, that is free? Free parking, free water, free pens and pads.

If I am limited to just manpower what can I do?  Can you go out into your communities and help at charity events, get involved in other places, volunteer?  Become more a part of your community than just a jobs center, become a good will center.  Getting involved with your community will get your name out there in a positive way that advertisments don't and will make people feel like they have a connection with you and share common interests.  Most of the organizations that you can help with don't always need money and sometimes you cannot afford to give it, or that much, but you can always provide time.  I know time isn't really free, we are all very busy, but making time is what will put you over the hump.  Many of us feel like we have no time but if we took a realistic look at what we were spending the majority of our time actually doing I bet we could fit more in.

What are your ideas in dealing with reduced funds?  How would you suggest reaching your customers?