Posts from — October 2009

For the most part, I try to refrain from discussing the economy in our blog posts. We all know the economy is bad and customer spending is down (although recent reports show it’s increasing slowly). However, it does need to be reiterated that even in a down economy, you need to continue with your marketing… and, there are some great reasons to increase your small business marketing now and not wait until the market goes up. I’m just listing three here… if you would like to hear more, contact us at The Envision Agency, Small Business Marketing 800.441.1319.

Now, I do want to stress before we go into these reasons, that we are not suggesting that you increase your marketing budget across the board. At The Envision Agency, we always suggest that you spend money on what’s working and try to improve what is not… and if you can’t improve it, you shut it down. If you are ready to increase your marketing budget we recommend increasing spending on channels that are performing within your expected metrics or trying out new channels that you have not yet tested.

Reason 1: Studies have shown that companies that continue to market during tough economic times often see growth during those times, where businesses that cut their marketing budget will often see a decrease in sales.

Summary of Studies Reported by the American Business Press

Recessionary Periods Studied	Author / Sponsor	Conclusion
1920s recession	Vaile, Harvard Business Review	Biggest sales increases come from companies that increase advertising.
1949, 1954, 1958, 1961 recessions	Buchen Advertising	Companies that cut advertising during recession experience dropped sales and profits.
1970 recession	ABP and Meldrum & Fewsmith	Increased advertising during recession leads to sales or profit advantages (or both) in years following recession.
1974 – 1975 recession	McGraw-Hill	Advertising during recession creates 132% subsequent 5-year sales growth.
Undisclosed recessionary periods	Cahners Publishing Co. and Strategic Planning Institute	Profit Impact of Marketing Strategies (PIMS) database; advertising during recession creates greater market share gains than decreases do, but there is no “statistically significant difference in the level of profitability [ROI]” (as quoted in American Business Press, 1993, p.5).

Source: All studies as summarized, quoted and/or cited in American Business Press (ABP, 1993). ABP changed it’s name to American Business Media in June 2000. For complete report, contact The Envision Agency, Small Business Marketing.

Reason 2: Most companies have decreased or maintained their marketing. That means that there are fewer messages out there for customers and if you have a great campaign, you have an easier chance to break through the clutter. And, that leads me to Reason #3.

Reason 3: Since everyone has decreased their marketing, you have a greater opportunity to get your marketing at a lower cost. And, some marketing channels, such as social media and SEO are extremely cost-effective if you outsource.

The Envision Agency, Small Business Marketing is offering a free marketing plan review and competitive analysis for Arizona Small Businesses. This package typically would cost $370. To take advantage of this great deal, call 602.697.2209 and mention that you saw the offer on The Envision Agency, Small Business Marketing blog. If you’re ready to increase your marketing efforts, or open a new channel, contact us today!

Market research firm Gartner has come out with a report suggesting that:

“As individuals and organizations progress in their adoption and leverage of the Web, new work streams and needs will arise, resulting in companies utilizing social sciences for next-generation technology.”

To be on the leading-edge of online marketing, you should be looking at your website as a sociologist looks at the world: examining and identifying each online interaction your customers and potential customers have with you and your competitors. Two things you can start to consider immediately are:

User Experience
How does your visitor experience your website? Are they finding everything they need easily or are they struggling? Are the conversations they are having online with you giving them what they need? Your online presence, not just your website, should be focused on the user experience. This requires you to put on your sociologist hat and examine how your users experience your online presence.

Behavioral Analysis
What type of behavior does your user show when interacting with you online? Do they show up and leave or are they spending time digging around your site? Employ and analyze website analytics and review the online conversations you are having to analyze visitor behavior. Consider what your competitors are giving the same visitors. Are you better?

The Envision Agency, Small Business Marketing can help you analyze your online presence and compare it to your competition and then devise marketing strategies to put you at the top of your local market.

Companies are understanding more that online marketing is an important aspect of their marketing mix. In fact, a recent Forrester Research study found that interactive marketing spending will reach nearly $55 billion by 2014, representing 21% of all marketing spend.

If your company hasn’t already added online marketing to your mix, you are missing out on a world of opportunity. You can see from the Forrester Research study mentioned above, businesses are finding success in online marketing and are continuously increasing their budgets.

For small businesses, online marketing is a great way to gain more customers at a lower cost than traditional media. Even if you have already started some online marketing, you should consider all the aspects such as search engine optimization (SEO), paid search marketing, email marketing, social media marketing, online video marketing, etc. These all have huge potential for small businesses. However, you may face a few challenges when you first try to implement some of these channels.

If you are not the ultimate decision maker, the first challenge you may face when trying to add online marketing to your current marketing mix is achieving buy-in. You’re not alone if you get push-back from many people in your company. Getting buy-in from Upper Management, your Sales Department, and your IT Department is often a challenge when a company wants to add online marketing to their marketing mix. Make sure you are prepared to answer each department’s concerns.

• Upper Management: Focus on how everything is black and white: it’s completely measurable and you can see what is, and is not, working. Also review what your competition is doing. If they are invested in online marketing, you have another reason: to stay competitive, you need to work with this medium.

• Sales Department: Focus on their involvement. Get their input on a prospect profile and keywords. They talk to the customers more than you do and know them better than you.

• IT Department: Focus on how you’re defining success and that they will receive their fair share of success for their help on the channel. Compromise is key, but changes to your website and implementing an analytics platform are two things a consulting company will need to do.

Educating your company on the importance of online marketing is the first thing you need to do to create a successful campaign. In our next blog, we’ll discuss some of the benefits you can see from involving the challengers of online marketing in your implementation process.

If you’re ready to take the plunge into online marketing for your small business, contact The Envision Agency, Small Business Marketing. We’ll review your business goals and current marketing and sales process and identify implement the best opportunities for your company.

Have you considered creating an online video series? Whether it’s a training program, a video blog, a comedy sketch, etc., it’s something to consider.

ComScore has released a new study showing more than 25 billion, yes billion, videos were viewed in August 2009. These online videos reached over 161 million U.S. viewers. Of all the video sites out there, Google sites (which includes YouTube) hold 39.6% of the online video viewership. They are the #1 online video provider.

How can you use online video to get more customers? A great example is Blendtec. They created a huge following starting in 2007 by trying to blend pretty much anything that would fit into a blender, including the iPhone, to show you how well their blenders worked.

There is a market out there for your company’s online videos… have you tried to capture it? If you’re ready to start a new marketing strategy, give The Envision Agency, Small Business Marketing a call at 800.441.1319. We can help you start a video marketing strategy that fits into your current marketing plan or revise your marketing strategy all together.