Recessionary Marketing Practices

    Two 1to1weekly articles recently caught my eye.  The first, from March of this year, quotes Aberdeen Group research fellow Jeff Zabin in a discussion of an Aberdeen study, Recessionary Marketing:  How Best-in-Class Companies are Weathering the Storm. Zabin reports that while marketers are cutting their marketing budgets, they are not doing so universally across all channels, but in fact, are investing more in some channels: “The report found that a majority of best-in-class companies have cut their traditional media – 60 percent have cut television and print advertising, 45 percent have cut trade promotion, and 62 percent have cut their event budgets. Many of those who have cut traditional advertising are increasing their investments in infrastructure and technology to enable social media (68 percent), email marketing (47 percent), online promotions (41 percent), search engine marketing (38 percent), and mobile marketing (16 percent).”  Another new trend the study found was that many marketers are starting from the ground up in completely revamping their marketing plans, something Zabin says he has never seen before.

    The second article appeared this week, citing recent research from Forrester.  As economic recovery continues to elude us, Forrester finds that many marketers are unwilling to take a risk with new, untested applications like online video and mobile marketing, no matter how lucrative the potential rewards may be.  In 2008, interest in mobile marketing, online video and social media was very high, but as the economy deteriorated, the investments did not follow the enthusiasm.  Shar VanBoskirk, a vice president and principal analyst at Forrester Research, says, “Marketers are primarily sticking with what they know this year. This means they’re not that willing, or able due to resource constraints, to trial untested media like online video.”

    The migration of marketing budgets away from broadcast and print media is not good news for the printing industry, but it is certainly not new news.  The current economic situation has accelerated the move, but the slowdown in adoption of “new-new” media such as social media actually gives firms that have not made the move to integrated multi-channel services some breathing room.  Not much, but some.  Now is the time to gain expertise in such things as variable data, TransPromo, personalized URLs, and email marketing if you have not yet done so.  or at a minimum, find a partner who can help you.  Marketers want mechanisms with proven results, and there are plenty of public disclosures of results that can be cited for integrated campaigns and TransPromo that include a blend of print and alternative media.  Better yet, do some of your own multi-channel campaigns to promote your business.  That serves the multiple purposes of demonstrating to clients and prospects how this stuff works, giving your team experience with it in a safe environment and promoting your business.  But don’t let social media, online video, mobile marketing and the like fall off the radar screen.  Make no mistake, they will be here with a vengeance as the economy returns.