Recession Data On The Value of Marketing Through Economic Downturn

We know the anxiety is rising for many of you as the economy falters.We know it is tempting to begin the slashing process of your expenses.And, we know that marketing is one of those areas that typical gets the brunt of those budget cuts.We understand...but you must resist!

Sure, you should always be doing everything you can to maximize your marketing resources.That's true, even in a good economy.But history shows us that now is just not the time to curb your marketing efforts.

Here are some of the facts from past recessions:

1970 recession year -- American Business Press (ABP) and Meldrum & Fewsmith study showed that "sales and profits can be maintained and increased in recession years and [in the years] immediately following by those who are willing to maintain an aggressive marketing posture, while others adopt the philosophy of cutting back on promotional efforts when sales appear to be harder to get.

" 1

1974-1975 recession years -- ABP/Meldurm & Fewsmith 1979 study covering 1974/1975 and its post-recession years found that "Companies which did not cut marketing expenditures experienced higher sales and net income during those two years and the two years following than those companies which cut in either or both recession years.

" 2

1981-1982 recession years

McGraw-Hill Research's Laboratory of Advertising Performance studied recessions in the United States.

Following the 1981-1982 recessions, it analyzed the performance of some 600 industrial companies during that economic downturn.It found that "business-to-business firms that maintained or increased their marketing expenditures during the 1981-1982 recession averaged significantly higher sales growth both during the recession and for the following three years than those which eliminated or decreased marketing." 3

Cahners and Strategic Planning Institute (SPI) produced their report, "Media Advertising When Your Market Is In a Recession.

" It disclosed, "During a recessionary period, average businesses do experience a slightly lower rate of return relative to normal times.However, expansion times do not generate a higher level of profits than normal periods as might be expected." This phenomenon was explained by an analysis of changes in market share.

"During recessionary periods," said the Cahners/SPI report, "these businesses tended to gain a greater share of market.The underlying reason is that competitors, especially smaller marginal ones, are less willing or able to defend against the aggressive firms." The study then pointed out that businesses that increased media advertising expenditures during the recessionary period "gained an average of 1.5 points of market share." 4

1990-1991 recession years "Management Review asked AMA member firms about spending during the 1990-1991 recession.

"Fortune follows the brave," it announced, noting that the data showed that most firms that raised their marketing budgets enjoyed gains in market share.Among the magazine's sample, 15 percent reported "greatly decreased" ad budgets.Advertising was "somewhat cut" by 29 percent."The keys to gaining market share in a recession," concluded Management Review "seem to be spending money and adding to staff.Firms that increased their budgets and took on new people were twice as likely to pick up market share." 5

Beyond the statistics, why might it be more important than ever to market despite economic downturn?

Strong consideration should be given to the idea that marketing plays a more critical role now than it did during previous recessions.While marketing's role was once more informational than brand identity building, and considering that never more than today has the clutter factor been so great, relationships between customers and brands are critical.Relationship marketing has surged to the top of effective marketing campaigns as a means to keep an appropriate level of share of mind for purchase loyalty.Marketing serves to foster and maintain consumer-brand relationships.6

The effect on profits.

From the Harvard Business Review, "Advertising as an anti recession tool," comes the effect of cutting advertising on the bottom line."The rationale that a company can afford a cutback in advertising because everybody else is cutting back [is fallacious].Rather than wait for business to return to normal, top executives should cash in on the opportunity that the rival companies are creating for them.The company courageous enough to stay in the fight when everyone else is playing safe can bring about a dramatic change in market position." In addition, the article points out "Advertising should be regarded not as a drain on profits but as a contributor to profits, not as an unavoidable expense but as a means of achieving objectives.Ad budgets should be related to the company's goals instead of to last year's sales or to next year's promises." 7

What are you waiting for?

Get marketing!

REFERENCES:

1 "How Advertising in Recession Periods Affects Sales," American Business Press, Inc.

, 1979

2 ABP/Meldrum & Fewsmith study, 1979

3 McGraw-Hill Research.

Laboratory of Advertising Performance Report 5262 New York: McGraw-Hill, 1986.

4 Kijewski, Dr.Valerie."Media Advertising When Your Market Is in a Recession," Cahners Advertising Research Report.The Strategic Planning Institute, 1982

5 Greenburg, Eric Rolfe.

"Fortune Follows the Brave," Management Review, January 1993

6 Khermouch, Gerry.

"Why Advertising Matters More Than Ever," Business Week, August 2001

7 Dhalla, Nairman K.

"Advertising as an anti recession tool," Harvard Business Review, Jan.-Feb.1980

This data was compiled for you by our friends at Demand.

Demand works with clients to help them attract new customers, retain existing customers, increase marketing effectiveness and reduce marketing, operational and administrative costs.

About the Author

Go-To-Market Strategies is a resource center for sales and marketing professionals and business leaders that offers relevant online resources, training, and coaching services.

When you need to achieve big aspirations with limited budgets, choose www.gtms-inc.com!

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Book Marketing - 3 Ways to Drive Sales Using an Effective Book Cover Design

The cover of your book is a critical component of your book marketing strategy.It is the first impression people will have of your book and it may be the last.So it's essential that your book cover does more than convey your book's title.

Your book cover is your silent spokesperson and your mini-billboard.

So here are 3 ways in which you can maximize the impact of your book to help boost sales:

1.

Add Your Image

Naturally, this is not appropriate in all cases but it can work effectively whether you are well-known or not.

If you are well-known and your image is part of your overall branding then incorporating your image on the cover of your book will give your book brand recognition.Take Donald Trump for example.He incorporates his image onto the cover of all his books for to quote one of his book titles - "There's no such thing as over-exposure".

If you are well-known then your book represents a great opportunity to increase your recognition.People are generally curious to learn more about an author and to see what they look like.Authors are seen as very special people - celebrities even.Allow potential buyers and or readers to connect with you.So even if you don't want to include your image on the front cover of your book make sure that your image can be readily found.For example, consider including it on the back cover or on the inside flap if your book is a hardcover version.

2.List relevant awards or distinctions

If you have received a significant award for your writing or your work in the subject matter of your book then you can include this information on the cover of your book.

By distinctions I mean something that is worthy of note.For example, if your book has a TV connection your book cover is a great place to mention it.People have a tendency to believe what they see on television which is one reason why this is such a power medium and any TV links will massively boost the saleability of your book.

For instance, Dean Graziosi on his New York Times best selling book "Be a Real Estate Millionaire" mentions "As seen weekly on national TV since 1999".This instantly gives him a ton of credibility even if you've never actually seen Dean Graziosi on television yourself.

Another example is the book "Think Yourself Rich" written by the award-winning author Sharon Maxwell Magnus."Think Yourself Rich" was a major BBC television series and this was mentioned on the front book cover not one but twice.

3.Direct people to a free recorded message

Think of your book as a lead generator.

Your book should be just the first stage of a journey a reader shares with you.offer your readers different ways to interact with you.

So you can use your book cover to invite potential buyers and or readers of your book to phone you using a free phone number where they can listen to a pre-recorded message.Your pre-recorded message can outline a special product or service you might have and a special offer that is only available to individuals who purchase your book.

You might even want to run a special competition in association with the launch of your book and use your pre-recorded message to give details about this.People love competitions and structured astutely a competition that is run as part of your book launch can generate massive publicity for you, your company and of course, your book.

About the Author

For a great opportunity to learn first-hand about expert book marketing visit Book Marketing University.

And to listen to a FREE teleclass on how you can turn your book into an Amazon Bestseller visit Becoming An Amazon Bestseller.

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Tools For The Successful Affiliate Marketer

Do you know what it takes to become a successful affiliate marketer?If not, then this article will help you with it.To be a successful affiliate marketer, there are a couple of things you have to learn.And, no matter what the "guru's" is saying, you need to put some work into it, if you want to make a living from it.

Tips from Successful Affiliate Marketer

There are a couple of things that the professional affiliate marketers think is vital for building a business.

One of those things is using the right tools.But, witch tool do you need?Well, there are actually 3 tools that are very important for you business and they are:

1.

The Website
2.
Email list
3.
Link building tools

The Website

To create your own website is very important because it's the jump off point for all of your marketing efforts.

You should concentrate on building a website that is user-friendly and has contents that is relative to the product that you are promoting.You cold do that by posting articles, reports etc.that is relative to the products.By the way, you don't have to write that article by your self, just go to any of those free articles directories.From there, you can usually find articles that would fit on your site.

Opt-In Email list

Building your own email list is also something that I would recommend.

You have probably heard the "Guru's" saying that "money is in the list", and nothing could be truer than that.It has been demonstrate that it take a customer 7 visits to the website, before they actually buy the product.By building your own list, you will create a relation with your (hopefully) your customer and they will come back to your site more than 7 times, and then buy the product that you are offering.

Link Building Tools

Building links is very important if you want to succeed with your business.

Without links to your website, nobody will ever visit it.There are a couple of tools that you can use to build links to your website but I would recommend that you start submitting articles to article directories or ezine.This method is free to use, and the quality of the traffic you get from it, is very good.If you don't like the idea of writing your own articles, you can always buy articles from a ghost writer, that means that some body else writes the articles for you, for a small price, and you can then use it as your own article.Just do a search at google for the word "ghost writer" and a lot of alternative will show up.
Another method you can use if you don't want to write the articles by yourself is to use plr articles.Plr articles are articles that you have the right to change and put your name on.Just remember when using plr articles, you need to change the articles at least 75 % from the original, before submitting them to the articles directories.For more information about plr articles, I highly recommended that you visit places as:

* Plrpro
* Nicherevolution
* Simpleplr

That's it, these are the tools/methods you need to master to become successful as an affiliate marketer.

The opportunity for the affiliate marketers is huge but to take advantage of these opportunities, you really need to use the tools recommended.

About the Author

For more information about how to become a successful affiliate marketer, please visit AbsolutBusiness.

com

Patrik Karlsson

AbsolutBusiness.

com

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Dental Website Designs -- Getting A New Client's Attention Through Search Engines

Dentists often associate the success of dental website designs directly with their price.While having an effective website for dentists is certainly part of the formula for profitable online advertising, it will be almost impossible to find without a bit of help.One of the most effective ways of driving new patients to your website is through the search engines.

Search Engine Optimization For Dental Website Designs

Search engines such as Yahoo!

and Google are a powerful tool online advertising.Unfortunately, they also create another problem.Currently, Google has more than 42,000 sites listed for 'dentist' and you need to put your website on one of the first two pages in order to be seen.Being link number 42,000 means it is almost impossible for anyone to know you are there.

These Internet search tools use a set of complex algorithms to evaluate each page.The search engines finds and arranges websites according to their 'value' for a specific term.The ones it deems most relevant rise to the first two pages and the rest are lost in oblivion.This means search engine optimization is needed to show the 'bots', 'spiders', and 'crawlers' used by these sites that your page deserves to make the top of the list.

Choosing Keyword Phrases To Target

This is the single most important step in having a website for dentists noticed.

For example, a search through Google for 'dentists' reveals more than 52,000 pages, which is ten thousand more than the singular term.An online expert will research to see what competition exists and how many people use that phrase to find services.They may use keyword phrases that include a geographic location (Chicago dental practice), specific services (iBraces), specific areas of the industry (cosmetic dentist), or a combination of these.Then these words will be used in your dental website designs and marketing plans for your website for dentists.

Increasing Page Rank

Search engines give a page rank when they have evaluated a website for dentists.

Keyword phrases play a part in this, but the number and quality of sites linking to and from your dental website design are also important.Niche blogging and article marketing are some of the more popular methods used to grab attention.Submitting press releases and adding a news section to your dental website design is also effective.

These methods spread your URL and information throughout cyberspace to provide links and attention.They can also keep online search tools returning on a regular basis to have your website for dentists reevaluated.Other techniques include submitting to niche directories as well as adding information to forums and other websites.As an added benefit, these catch the attention of customers themselves.

This is an extremely simplified exploration of online marketing for dental website designs, but it provides dental professionals an idea of what this type of advertising involves.Getting your website for dentists to the front page is only a portion of the work involved.Because your competitors are after the same goal as you, the rankings change on a consistent basis meaning that your online practice will need regular maintenance and updating to ensure it stays competitive, particularly in markets that have a large amount of opposition.Armed with a basic knowledge of online marketing and an expert Internet marketing specialist, your online practice will get the attention it deserves, and your dental chairs will fill up.

About the Author

Christine O'Kelly writes for the award-winning company, Officite, who specialize in dental website designs.

These experts create innovative website for dentists and medical professionals that build profitable practices.

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