Media Room

Features and tRends

(February 2009)

How to Maximize Your Marketing Dollars

By Megan Webb and Shannon K. Benton

Today’s economy has every business executive—including CEOs and CMOs—looking at ways to restrain and curb their annual budget expenditures. If you’re one of these people, you’re expected to do more with less, yet at the same time still seize market share and increase company profits. A pretty daunting and overwhelming task, huh?

Well don’t worry; you’re not alone. We’re here to tell you that your marketing and company growth doesn’t have to suffer in the midst of budget cutbacks.

Any savvy business leader will tell you that a down economy is not the time to withdraw marketing spending. In fact, it is well documented that brands that increase marketing during a recession—when competitors are cutting back—can actually improve market share and return on investment at a lower cost than during good economic times. For instance, a McGraw-Hill Research analysis studied the 1981-1982 recession concluding that companies who maintained or increased their ad spending for three years after that period earned 256 percent higher sales than companies who decreased their budgets.

It’s not about spending more on marketing; it’s about smarter marketing.

Maximize your marketing ROI (return on investment) and take advantage of every available marketing relationship—with current and prospective customers, the media, industry influencers, colleagues and employees—to leverage opportunities to promote your company, product or service to its fullest potential. Scrutinize everything you do related to marketing to capitalize on the benefits of these efforts.

Outlined below are several key tips to get the most out of your marketing in a down economy.

Go Digital
Make sure your marketing efforts can multi-task. For example, if you’re sending out a traditional (printed) direct mail piece or company newsletter, make sure you obtain an email list to send out an email blast and e-newsletter in addition to or as a substitute to a printed piece. Depending on your Web site software, you may even have the capability to send out email marketing campaigns without extra costs. If not, software like Constant Contact among others, allows you to be creative and efficient in your electronic communications for a nominal fee.

In a recession, it is important to focus your marketing efforts on accountable media by evaluating the best ways to measure and track your results. Digital media allows users to have various different means of tracking results whether it is click-throughs on the company e-newsletter or hits to your interactive advertisement.

Update Your Web site
Speaking of Web sites, make sure yours is doing your company justice. An effective Web site should include all information pertinent to your brand, product or service. It should also be user-friendly and your key messages should be painfully clear. Too many Web sites in cyberspace are filled with fluffy verbiage or complex company mission statements. . .making it difficult for audiences to walk away with the messages you’re so desperately trying to hammer home.

With that said, a great Web site should be simple to navigate and not complex with long load times. Ensure your Web site’s company, product and service information is compelling and easily accessible for current and prospective audiences.

On that note, you also want to make sure your Web site is helpful to the media. Include a press room that features up-to-date news releases, company backgrounders, downloadable high-resolution photos, past earned media coverage and thorough media contact information. And make sure the press room is highly visible with easy navigation. The simpler the better.

What’s more, if you’re active in social media, make sure your Web site lists and better yet, links, to where consumers, the media, industry influencers and even your sales team and employees can go for more information or to engage in the online conversation (i.e. business facebook page, twitter, linked in executive profiles, executive or company blogs, etc).

The Internet is overloaded with meaningless content. Don’t contribute to that trend. Make sure your Web site is relevant, informative and concise. And remember to direct your online visitors to the specific Web pages where you’re providing valuable information and where they can engage in the conversation. Consider mico-sites for providing a more focused experience with your brand.

Revolutionize Your PR Strategies
Last, but certainly not least, make certain you’re bringing your traditional public relations strategies and tactics to the next level. If you’re pitching a traditional press release, make sure you’re reaching out to the media and posting it to your Web site’s media room for easy access by journalists. And don’t forget to simultaneously optimize it for the search engines! Distributing an optimized release over the wire increases its “shelf life” and places it into the hands of both your target audience(s) and the public for an extended period. It also makes it easier for journalists to find when embarking on research for a story.

If this is any indicator of the importance of releases on the Internet . . . recent studies have found that 73 percent of journalists use the web to find press releases. Ninety-eight percent use the web daily as part of their search for news; 92 percent use the web for article research; 81 percent use search engines; 76 percent use the web to find news sources and experts for stories; and 81 percent of print journalists find ideas on the web. Let’s all get online already!

Maximize Every Marketing Opportunity
It’s no secret that today’s businesses are experiencing some of the most challenging economic times in our country’s short history. But every cloud has a silver lining and with a positive attitude, along with continued drive and passion, we will all weather the storm.

Marketing plays a key role in building up market share while paving the way for future success. We’ll be happy to help you dissect your marketing efforts and help determine through measurement and thorough analysis what marketing vehicles are working for your company and which ones are not. Let’s seek to maximize and leverage every marketing opportunity and relationship, and help make your marketing really work for your company. The key to your business success lies in the ‘new marketing reality.

At K&A, we are committed to providing you the highest possible return on your marketing investment. We pride ourselves in providing our clients with everyday marketing value. Contact Steve Kleber at skleber@kleberandassociates.com or 770.518.100 x203 to discuss how K&A can maximize your marketing ROI.

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