Recovery,Marketing,Hop,and,Tak marketing Recovery Marketing – Hop on and Take a Ride

Automation technologies represent a fundamental aspect of any modern industry. The major types of industrial automation solutions, such as DCS, PLC, SCADA, and MES, are used on a large-scale in process and discrete industries.DCS technologie Awhile ago, I got an email from one of the "gurus" I follow and it shocked me. The gist of it was this person wanted to trade services for a household item.To say it floored me would be an understatement.What was worse was a few days later t

A little over a year ago and probably before, articles started popping up all over the place about, "Selling in Tough Times," , "How To Market in a Down Economy," and the like. Now that we have seen a few, more positive headlines starting to sprinkle throughout, "Turning the Economical Corner,", "Have We Hit Bottom,", what now? For the sake of prognostication, let me review. No I am not driving the car by only looking in the rear view mirror. When times got tough, managers all over the place looked for places to cut costs. Marketers looked for newer places to sell and to sell more. Some business managers cut marketing and sales expenses. Let me state here, once and very clearly, that is the WRONG thing to do. Jay Conrad Levinson of guerrilla marketing fame says that "recessionary marketing" is a real opportunity. Bear with me on this review as we approach some new thoughts on "recovery marketing." During tough times, customers are looking for real value. Effective marketing points out that real value to customers with the ensuing result of increased sales and increased share of market. What Jay Levinson state for "recessionary marketing" applies to "turning –the-corner-and-coming-back" marketing, or "recovery marketing" as well; maybe even more. During recovery, lots of positioning is occurring, while at the same time skeptics are still about. During recovery some people choose as their favorite form of transportation to be hopping on to a bandwagon. Once the bandwagon fills up, companies look around at each other and start to feel that it is almost too late to start up aggressive marketing once again. The same old adage applies to marketing much like it does to work… "It's easier to keep it up than catch it up." Borrowing from "recessionary marketing" and applying the same mind set, thought processes and applications to recovery marketing, will further separate the marginal companies from the successful ones. Recovery marketing boils down to investing in the three things that should have been invested in when times got tough. 1.)increase the size of orders2.)increase the frequency of orders 3.)The third item, but more costly is to increase the number of customers you sell to. Enhanced marketing programs and increased investment in marketing accomplishes the above items. Free samples, seminars, consulting, and speeches, are incentives for the customer to buy more and to do it more often. Now is the time to put that marketing line item expense back into the budget. Prioritize 3 recovery marketing initiatives now, don't deviate and certainly don't cut the expense or investment that is made. We'll leave the concepts of consistency, persistency and long term thinking to other marketing articles. Here are a few recovery tactics that will help your positioning as customers and prospects decide where to spend their growing dollars earned from a recovering economy. Publicity – If you don't already have a PR program in place, start one now. There are a multitude of reasons to write a press release. Focus on one editor and get something published. This is free marketing and an effective technique that shows up in all the "marketing in tough times" articles.Current Customer Attention – The best prospect is a current customer. This is true whether we are marketing in a recession or in a recovery or in a boom. Pay them the proper amount of attention. Prioritize them and see how far into their account you can gain share. Share of customer is always a priority and will help focus marketing efforts in a recovery.Increase Networking – Referral programs and word of mouth marketing are still low cost associated with a high success rates. There are ways to enhance this but you have to put yourself in front of the potential buyer in some fashion or another or have someone else do it for you.Repackage your products and services as bundles or higher ticket items. This certainly attains that goal of selling more per order. Customers that have stuck with you through thick and thin will probably spend more also in times of recovery.Spend some money – invest in that direct mail program that you've been putting off. Send that new brochure to customers and prospects. Sometimes positive talk about "preparing for the recovery" is very contagious. You'd be surprised what kind of mindset you can create in your own market. These are a few things to get you back on track if you cut that marketing expense (and want to beat the bandwagon hoppers) and want to ride the recovery wave. I can't wait to write the next article in this series about "Marketing In Boom Times!"Alfred J. Lautenslager is an award winning marketing/PR consultant, direct mail promotion specialist and entrepreneur. His businesses have helped hundreds succeed in their own businesses. Armed with an MBA, Al has successfully progressed through all facets of business. He has an impressive record that includes effective financial and sales planning, market development, a consistent growth in sales and profits above industry standards, resource management, product development, marketing management and overall general management. He is a professional speaker on marketing and related topics, the principal of Market For Profits, a marketing consulting firm in Chicago, and also the president and owner of The Ink Well, a commercial printing and mailing company in Wheaton, IL. He is a featured marketing and PR expert on numerous website publications including the online version of Entrepreneur Magazine and is on the Small Business Panel for USA Today. His leadership has extended to his involvement into the community, is on the board of directors of five non-profit organizations including the DuPage County Workforce Investment Board and The Community Career Center in Naperville , IL. . Al is also a business partner with two area school districts. . Al can be reached through the websites at www.market-for-profits.comand www.1-800-inkwell.com or at [email protected]. Al invites everyone to Sign up for his FREE REPORT: 50 PEOPLE TO INSTANTLY ADD TO YOUR NETWORK, and receive a free value-packed online newsletter entitled MARKET FOR PROFITS Just click here: http://www.market-for-profits.com/free_report.htm or Click here for the Market For Profits Home Page: http://www.market-for-profits.com