What Slowdown?

As many companies today cut back on catalog circulation and other marketing activities hoping to simply survive this rough stretch in the economy, smart marketers should seize this opportunity to grow market share and strengthen their businesses. This is the message that came out of a recent whitepaper, How to Beat the Bear: Seven Secrets to Recession-Proof Marketing, from e-mail marketing firm Silverpop on recession-proof marketing tactics, from which several tips are provided here.

1. Determine your metrics. Figure out exactly where your upper management stands in measuring success in terms of return on investment (ROI) and what levels of return it expects. This is especially critical during an economic slump when marketers are under increasing pressure to deliver measurable results and clearly demonstrate the value they provide.

The whitepaper recommends the following metrics to track ROI:
* total sales generated by marketing;
* incremental sales from existing customers generated by marketing;
* conversion rates; and
* time to conversion.

Use this information to ensure that successful programs are continued and funding for unsuccessful programs is allocated elsewhere. E-mail marketers are particularly well-positioned to provide marketing support during a recession, delivering highly measurable and targeted campaigns, the whitepaper notes.

2. Focus on your existing customers. Acquiring new customers is always more expensive than keeping the ones you already have. And during tough economic times, consumers are less likely to take risks with new companies or products, preferring to stick with trusted sources and brands they know, the whitepaper points out. With that in mind, serve the needs of existing customers in hopes of turning them into loyal brand advocates. Segment your marketing messages for improved relevance. Research and implement automated lifecycle campaigns based on surveys, customer feedback, etc.

This can result in particularly high yields during tough economic times and has the added benefit of ultimately freeing up marketers to fine-tune across all channels, rather than simply executing campaign after campaign, the whitepaper says.

3. Collect and act upon customer data. Reach out to customers with marketing messages based on behavioral targeting. For example, contact customers who’ve left items in an online shopping cart or have abandoned a sign-up process. This can make substantial differences in bottom-line results.

Here are a few examples of customer data that can be collected and subsequent offers that can be made to act upon the data.
* Last product purchased — offer promotion on complementary item;
* amount purchased last year — offer percentage discount for spending more this year;
* date of last visit to homepage — send announcement of new items when available;
* date of last visit to customer support page — ask if customers’ needs were fulfilled, underscore your commitment to serving them; and
* demographics (i.e., age, gender, location of residence) — send new store opening offers and birthday greetings.

4. Use a multichannel approach. During tough economic times buyers tend to need more reasons to make a purchase, the whitepaper says, so reach out to customers in a variety of ways. Multichannel marketing delivers a more consistent and persistent approach.

Techniques include using e-mail as an alert for follow-up direct mail, e-mail announcing the imminent arrival of a catalog or e-mail to notify recipients to expect to receive a special invitation to an upcoming conference.

To increase customer knowledge, follow up a direct mail promotional piece or trade show event with an e-mailed survey asking for input, the whitepaper advises. Coordinate messaging across all channels to exponentially add to the strength of each.

5. Showcase e-mail. Putting e-mail at the forefront of your multichannel integrated data approach is key to improving campaign ROI because of its relatively low expense and the excellent results it generates, the whitepaper says. Tapping into the information available in your e-mail database can power not only e-mail messaging, but also other important customer touchpoints. E-mail’s ability to speak to individuals rather than crowds can be a key element to success, particularly during tight economic times.

6. Test before sending. Test various marketing assumptions before you send a campaign, the whitepaper advises. Most e-mail marketing platforms offer an integrated analytics module, so you can quickly and easily analyze your marketing data to determine the underlying drivers of response rates.

Test which customers should receive your best promotions, if customers who visit customer support pages are less likely to buy from you in the future and more.

More highly relevant behavior-based targeting leads to increased response and conversion rates — not to mention happier customers with much higher lifetime value, the whitepaper notes.

7. Take advantage of social media. When marketing budgets are short during tough economic times, use blogs, consumer product reviews, viral marketing and customer chat rooms to connect customers to one another and to your business. These techniques are effective at carrying the voice of the customer through word-of-mouth social channels, creating higher resonance in the marketplace than traditional media, the whitepaper says.

Additionally, Forrester Research points out that social networks are often more influential than traditional advertising at moving consumers considering a purchase — but still evaluating options. And in today’s current economic state, the ability to cost effectively turn thinkers into purchasers is beneficial.

To read the entire whitepaper, go to http://www.silverpop.com/downloads/documents/WP_Recession.pdf .