Now is the time to ratchet up your marketing efforts, as many of your competitors are hiding under a rock, laying off valuable employees and hoping to weather the storm. Not only is this a poor time to reduce your marketing effort, it is actually the best time to spend more and make even more noise!
DOUBLE UP ON YOUR MARKETING
Think of it this way: If your marketing investment last year was 100 clams and your competitors spent a total of 900 clams, in the end you made about 10 percent of the noise in your marketplace. Today, some of those competitors have gone dark and the rest have reduced their investment. If you DOUBLE your investment, you can now make more noise than any of your competitors -- perhaps more than all of them combined!
The positive tack is apparent: Get more creative in your marketing plans. With more innovation, prospect touches, awareness building, industry initiatives and partner programs, your PRE-BOOM strategic plan will enable you to gear up and be ready for engagement in the new thriving economy.
THINK AHEAD
A downturn is also a time to rethink your company's long-term strategy and prepare to move fast to get your boom-time marketing programs up to speed quickly. With the right talent solidly in place (is that hint subtle enough?), the marketing department can execute a marketing plan implementing competitive strategies and business models for the next growth cycle. This era will allow companies to evaluate the effectiveness of their marketing strategies and identify unique opportunities to change the game. Plan for the economic rebound before it even begins. As the pendulum swings back to prosperity, will your company be ready?
TAKE ADVANTAGE OF THE LULL
Now is also the time to take advantage of the relatively quiet marketing environment. Remember when you were running 100 miles an hour just to keep up? Today, you are cruising at 70 (at best), so what do you do with your "free" time?
What's the common thread here? Take action! Your efforts now can empower your company and reinforce the perceived value of the marketing team. If your company leaders see the marketing team taking leadership to actively prepare for the coming boom, they will see you as more valuable to the company for the long term.
Seize the opportunities of the pre-boomapproach by being innovative, prepared, capable and impactful. This will enable your company to go beyond what's expected and surge into the future powerfully -- today!
What do YOU think about the pre-boom? We always enjoy feedback!