Tag Archives: Recession Marketing
Economy Down. Online Advertising Up.
According to ADWEEK, magazine, the online advertising segment grew additional 11 percent in the third quarter of this year. This supports our recommendation to reallocate portions of print and broadcast budgets toward banner advertising, web site enhancements, search advertising and social media. These media can more easily be tweaked for niche media and provide better tracking. This will undoubtedly be a tough year for all media, but an opportunity for clients with smaller budgets to buy low.
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Bank sends wrong message with scratch off promotion.
Bank offers scratch-off game for customers
What started as an irk turned into an insult after the $750 billion bank bailout. "Hey guys, knock knock. In case you haven’t heard. We’re really pissed at you. You greedily made bad loans, and now we’re bailing you out while our economy tanks." I’m sure there are plenty of responsible banks out there, but this is the wrong message for a bank to send in the best of times and certainly not during a recession.
When consumers are squeezing every dollar until it hurts, they want to know they’re spending it with businesses who are doing their best to deliver value and control costs.
Recession Success Stories
Some companies are actually becoming stronger during the recession. Our local coffee shop, for instance, is flourishing with a special brew of service, amazing product and a neighborhood appeal.
One of our clients, a medical equipment distributor, has more than compensated for sagging equipments sales through a focus on service.
Empower Aviation, a newer client that offers a private jet charter service, has exploited commercial air’s disarray by targeting niche markets, including first-time private jet passengers
So what makes these companies so successful?
- Amazing products. Tough times curb impulse and convenience decisions in favor of the right purchasing decision. Consider guarantees and warranties to lower the risk threshold.
- Services that extend the usefulness of existing products rather than replacing them.
- Understanding what customers want, their changing definition of value, and their personal struggles, e.g. “I can’t afford a summer vacation, but I can enjoy a fine cup of coffee with the folks in my neighborhood.”
- Personalizing marketing to the most profitable segments, e.g. Existing customers, or focusing resources within a tighter geographic area.
German Airline Buzzes Passengers with Viral Blitzkrieg
Germanwings,
a notable airline company based in Cologne and Stuttgart has used a
viral email campaign to create buzz by allowing its customers (and
45,000 of their closest friends and relatives) an opportunity to build
their own empire, online.
Germanwings Airlines sends out an email; you click on it and create
a profile. And watch what you say. Online police at the site will
revoke any group that contain words like “crash”, “Jihad”, “72″ and
“Virgin” in the title. After you settle on a name and chug three or
four energy drinks, you send out five emails to friends, family, the
neighbor’s dog, whoever. They send out five emails, and they send out
five emails, then five more until you have a little pyramid scheme 2.0
of your own. You get to pretend to be ‘Das Fuhrer’ for a month, and
Germanwings sees their email list grow by 0.5%.
Using a Web 2.0 marketing tool is not new, but this viral email
campaign allows users to be in charge of everything. Recruit people to
join a group, channel their inner army field generals and take over a
micro-site. Why would you do all this work? You love free stuff. Become
the game’s largest group, and you might win bags of peanuts, a few
Deutschmarks off airfare, and those flight-wing pins that they give
children when they fly alone.
Grow Your Business During a Recession
The recession, economic downturn, or however you choose to spin it is a natural part of the economic cycle. It’s also a golden opportunities for marketers to build brand awareness and sales, both short and long-term; take advantage of media deals; and to outmarket more timid competitors. Our first Slightly Soiled White Paper by Ideopia CEO, Bill Abramovitz, explains why.
Comments and ideas about the topic are most welcome!