3 Steps to Marketing in a Recession — Next, Decide
More people are on the Internet these days, generously sharing advice about how to survive as a marketer in the recession. But the amount of information is overwhelming, and there’s a lot of repetition. That’s why it’s important to drive your decisions by data and analysis in each case, customizing your solutions to what works best for your customers — and you.
The filter — what drives value? Do solid research on your customers and their markets and adjust your tactics accordingly, while sticking to the core, writes Harvard Business School marketing professor John Quelch.
As a marketer, review your own business. Take stock of key factors in your own success that you overlooked, took for granted or failed to articulate in past years when you were so busy you couldn’t come up for air. Define your expertise in a fresh way that fits the ever-changing needs of today and acquire the skills you need post-recession. It’s a balancing act of staying in touch with marketing trends, equipping yourself with new tools and mining your potential for the future.
- Understand your competitors thoroughly.
- Identify influencers and cultivate them.
- Build and rebuild professional networks. Unique visitors to LinkedIn, the fastest-growing professional site, soared 22 percent between December and January and time on the site doubled, while Twitter grew by one-third just in the past month.
- Create your marketing roadmap. As we tell our clients, incremental marketing gains are a waste of time, resources and energy. Go back to Step 1 and focus.
