MARKETING BLOG

To invest or not to invest in marketing?

17/1/2013

Marketing does not need to be expensive to be effective.

 

During more turbulent and uncertain economic times, it is not uncommon for businesses, big and small, to slam on the brakes, slash their marketing expenditure in half and wait for break in the storm.

Financially, this may make perfect business sense and could help to keep down costs - in the short term anyway!  However, from an external perspective, i.e. that of your customers and competitors, this seemingly ‘safe’ strategy could have devastating consequences for your company’s profile and competitive positioning.

 

A quick sweep of the web and market environment will highlight the companies that are continuing to invest in their marketing, brand and profile and while some companies retreat, so do their activities and overall presence - making way for new, confident and strategic businesses to steal the lime light and unfortunately, the customer base too.   

 

It is a common misconception that marketing is an expensive and time consuming discipline. Whilst you can, if you want too, spend thousands of pounds on marketing campaigns, fancy websites, TV advertising and big events, it is possible to deliver effective, clever and successful marketing initiatives for a fraction of the cost. 

 

Here are just a few of my suggestions that may help you to keep down costs but still compete with the ‘big boys';

• Word of Mouth (referral marketing) – recommendations from satisfied customers are still one of the most highly valued sales channels for all companies.  So, ensuring excellent service and value for money is essential to harness the power of word of mouth marketing
• Build Awareness to your customers? – delivering a 'series' of carefully tailored marketing campaigns to specific customer groups, that are timely, relevant and interesting will attract a higher response rate than 'one' global and often expensive, generic campaign
• Charity Sponsorship – provides an excellent way to show your support for charities (local and national) and helps to enhance your profile as a socially responsible and ethical business
• Relationship Marketing - building strong, long-term relationships with your customers through customer loyalty schemes, 'added value' services, excellent customer service and experience and effective communication channels
• Think local – if you are a local business, advertising through local events, organisations, the media & community groups is not only ‘good value for money’ but helps to build your profile and reputation within the local community

 

For help driving your marketing activities, please give Cambridge Marketing Consultancy a call on 07834 896 285.