Archive for April, 2009
Should I cut my marketing budget?
Apr 24th
It depends.
If your company is burning furniture to heat the offices, yes … cut the budget! Go through the grieving process, get over it and be the leader your company needs you to be in difficult times.
If your company is viable and competitors are struggling, this is the time to be aggressive. It might be wise to INCREASE your spend. The recession will sort out the weak competitors. Are you going to be a market leader when the economy comes back or teetering on collapse? The marketing money you spend NOW can determine your future to a large extent.
In either case, this is a time to show leadership and be excellent stewards of the marketing budget. It’s time to re-think your spend, re-negotiate media contracts, get closer to your customers, and re-focus on short-term value-oriented products the market needs.
If you’re interested in learning more about this topic, I have a number of longer articles on recession-marketing available for free on my website www.businessesGROW.com.
Improve your Google-self
Apr 22nd
Yesterday, Google released a new product called Google Me. If you simply enter the word “me” in the Google search bar, you’ll be given an opportunity to establish a profile on YOUR terms and contribute to your online identity.
The easy set-up includes a chance for a short bio, interests, personal information and your website address. However, it does NOT cleanse your search results in any way. Your new “profile” probably won’t even be the lead search result, but it does give you a chance to tell your story YOUR way! It’s the Burger King of apps.
As a service to you, gentle reader, I made myself a guinea pig and tested this service on day one. I googled myself today and the new profile made the first page of results at number 10, squeezed between a different Mark Schaefer in Knoxville and a real estate transfer from last year. It’s the only one with a picture in the search results.
The only downside I can see — the more info you submit in your profile, the more Google is collecting about you, which will allow more targeted ads, etc. I chose to be pretty sparse with my bio information at this point — none of the fields are “required.”
Go forth and set the record straight for future generations!
Is print dead?
Apr 22nd
This morning a colleague asked me this question regarding a new health-related magazine he was starting and the prospects for attracting advertisers. Here was my response:
Although advertising budgets are rapidly moving toward online media, print is definitely not dead. Paper media still has a couple of advantages.
First, your target audience may not have the time or interest to scan the Internet for content. More than 30% of Americans don’t use the Internet at all and in many countries that rate is even higher.
Second, research shows that people process printed information more effectively, especially if the content is long or complex. If you’re like me, you print out Internet content to read if it is more than about a page long.
Third, a direct-mail piece has an unparalled ability to reach specifically-targeted audiences.
Finally, print magazines reach a different sort of secondary audience — people in a doctor’s office or a spouse at home for example. That could be important to some advertisers.
Like any media channel, the key is this — what customer need is being met? If the audience you’re reaching with the magazine aligns with the demographics sought by advertisers, and the price per impression is competitve, you will win and attract advertisers.
If the media channel adds value to customers, it will be relevant no matter if it is based on pulp or “tweets.”
Welcome to {grow}
You’re in marketing for one reason: Grow.
Grow your company, reputation, customers, impact, profits. Grow yourself. This is a community that will help. It will stretch your mind, connect you to fascinating people, and provide some fun along the way. I am so glad you’re here.
-Mark SchaeferFollow Mark
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