Out of Sight is Out of Mind …

The current recession affects us all. At ashine we’re not immune to the same pressures you will be grappling with. But we have at least two valuable advantages in facing the challenge:

1. Our client base consists of small, medium and large companies from widely different business sectors so we’re able to observe and influence at close quarters the actions that prove most effective at combating the current downturn.
2. Our team includes seasoned professionals who’ve worked through previous recessions and as a result can bring their hard-earned experience to bear on the relevant issues.

At ashine we passionately believe that this combination of knowledge, expertise and experience is an extremely valuable resource for you to use.
We also believe in collaboration and sharing … the more we can help each other, the more of us will survive and more importantly prosper.

…Knowledge is Power…

Here is a combination of our thoughts on marketing that will help you grow through this recession … please read them and apply them to your business.

Marketing is the art of being visible
If you’re not out there, how can anyone buy off you? Your company and its products and services need to remain visible even if buyers are nowhere near as plentiful as before. You need to maximise what opportunities are available … and remember that when buyers do, as they surely will, return to the market you need to be at the top of their mental list.

Marketing means listening as much as telling
It may be tempting to merely batten down the hatches and go into hibernation in an attempt to last out the economic downturn. But markets don’t stand still even in recession … people’s views on product and service levels are constantly changing; equally it is very risky to assume that your competitors will adopt a no-action approach to the current difficulties. You have to remain out there, listening and responding, even if the return on that investment is not immediately apparent.

Marketing means understanding your market
This is an obvious rule but in times like these it’s all too easy not only to lose rapport with your customers but also to neglect the disciplines of researching and forecasting.
For example, how many times have you already heard that “it’s impossible to predict what’s going to happen”? Well it’s not. Using some commonsense, and whatever pertinent statistics that are available, it’s perfectly feasible to, at the very least, undertake some future alternative scenario planning to test your proposed strategic plans against. Maintaining this sort of approach will help you to identify and maximise opportunities during recession and be amongst the first to take advantage of the eventual market recovery.

…You have to remain out there, listening and responding, even if the return on that investment is not immediately apparent…

Marketing requires constant attention and commitment
We all know that marketing expenditure is generally not short-term, either in immediate sales effect or when building a long-term image. Believing it, in times of recession, is another matter. Commitment to the marketing approach to business generation means identifying with the consumer, within the limits of prudent business, and constantly tracking their needs and desires against the company’s ability to deliver. If you take your eye of this ball, don’t be surprised if you drop it.

Marketing should be simple
It’s easy to pile one technique on another when times are good and to assume “the more the merrier”. When times are hard you must choose what really works and knock away supporting structures that only make you feel comfortable. Don’t expect to do this without reaction – you may well be chipping away at other people’s businesses and removing comfortable longstanding, but no longer effective, relationships; but that is what it takes to survive.

Marketing isn’t just about money
In the current environment, and particularly to someone who may measure their marketing budget in four figures, never mind seven or eight, it may sound crazy but having “unlimited” marketing monies will often confuse the issue, because the budget does not force decisions on marketing priorities. Money alone does not define marketing strategy, or which products to develop, or which promotional plans will give the best returns. This is the time to scrutinise precisely the ratio between your fixed and variable marketing spends and to review in detail the relative contribution of every line item in your existing or proposed marketing spend levels.

…a company should have a Strategic Marketing Plan that is wholly aligned with overall company objectives and Business Plan…

Marketing must be measured
As we stand today the question of choice of marketing mix may appear to many to be an unrealistic luxury to an unsympathetic accountant or banker. The more basic issue of spending virtually anything at all on marketing has been brought into sharp focus, when money is also needed for investment, or wages, or to directly support the bottom line, or keep the banks at bay.
Marketing cannot afford to be a vague concept and the importance of measuring and monitoring results of marketing initiatives and valid marketing performance trend analysis has never been greater. You need to understand what works and what doesn’t.

Marketing means planning
At any time a company should have a Strategic Marketing Plan that is wholly aligned with overall company objectives and Business Plan, fully integrated into all aspects of the business and understood by all members of the company. At no time could this be truer than when market conditions are dramatically adverse.

Marketing means leading
In a time of adversity, risk and uncertainty a company will look to its marketing function for positivity and cues on how to behave. Your marketing activity must rise to that challenge.

The ultimate benefit of hard times is that they force you to ask the unasked questions. And when you have finished asking “Why?” – why do we operate this way? why do we need to do this? why are we organised this way? – eventually you can ask, “Why not?” and that release of energy will be the foundation of success in riding out the recession with a leaner and more effective marketing approach that will also put you in a prime position to capitalise early as the market progressively improves in the future.

So If you want some help asking those
unasked questions, we at ashine are here to help.
Just call Chris… 01789 264500

Email:
Mobile: 07870 304 192
Tel: 01789 264500