Assessing Your Marketing Budget in This Economy

Last week I talked about how to reduce costs across the board, today I'll talk about how to continue to grow while cutting back a bit on marketing. You never want to completely cut back on all of your communications but you can take steps to reduce them a bit.

Print ads - First of all make sure your print ads are working for you. Ask your customers how they heard or read about you in the first place. One simple thing you can do is to reduce your ad sizes if the publication will let you.

Google Adwords - Don't cut Adwords spending altogether, but assess what's working for you. If you sell locally make sure you're not spending to show ads in other areas of the country, spend locally only. Google let's you do that. If you have campaigns that just have not pulled you might want to pause them for a few months.

Email Marketing - You don't have to cut here at all and it's not just because you might be a customer of ours. Now, VerticalResponse let's you send unlimited email for a low fixed monthly fee in addition to our flexible pay-as-you-go option. This enables you to increase your email sends and keep growing your business.

Tradeshows - Instead of cutting tradeshows out of your budget altogether, you might be able to reduce your presence. Why not share a booth with another complementary business? Do you really need 3 people to go or can you do it with 2? Maybe you can have a smaller table or booth? Make sure you don't skimp on printing business cards, but use the back of your card for a promotion instead of printing on a larger datasheet. There are simple ways to reduce, while still promoting your business.

Start a Refer-a-Friend Program - Ask your customers to refer their friends and you'll give them a discount or free gift every time their friends purchase. This only costs you your discount or gift and it's a fantastic way to spread word of mouth.

Just a few quick ideas for you to save some $ or get new customers.

Comments

[Rolands]

> Don't cut Adwords spending altogether, but assess what's working for you.

well, in fact it's rule of thumb in all times, not just now. it's simply optimization. same said to personnel & etc.