How are marketing executives responding to the down economy? Is this the time to “hunker down” or “build share”? These are some of things marketing executives are telling me they are doing:
- Mining current customers and focusing on retention.
- Doing competitive analyses.
- Paying attention to internal marketing.
- Re-evaluating marketing mix.
- Getting house in order. Tightening the message.
- Building out networking sites.
- Offering incentives to do business.
- Thinking “guerilla marketing”
- Breaking the “rules.” Getting “out of the box.”
- Negotiating with vendors. Shopping around.
- Looking for acquisitions to help company grow.
- Relying more on social media and online marketing.
- Attending fewer industry tradeshows. Hosting smaller, private events.
- When cutting budgets, finding ways to make sure cuts are not strategically significant.
- Innovating on the product side.
- Retooling and reviewing the brand.
- Focusing on building strong, consistent internal cultures that will resonate with customers.
What are you doing?
We are focused on near term financial strength while investing in longer term strategies that, we believe, will enable us to gain share and win in the marketplace over time. Our focus is on ensuring that we deliver World Class Customer Experiences at every touch point, every time. Our priority is to integrate the Voice of the Customer more effectively into the opperations and culture of our company. We have a highly recognizable brand campaign that continues to activate conversations and interest. We are working hard and are excited by the opportunities that are in front of us.