Adcetera Digital

A successful marketing campaign doesn’t have to run for years, and it doesn’t have to take years to pull it together! Here are some tips for getting your message into the market without breaking the bank — or tearing through the calendar.

Define success. Understand going into your campaign exactly what you hope to accomplish. Are you looking for brand recognition? Increased sales of a specific product or service? Your goal is like a mission statement for every step of the campaign: if you have an idea that won’t move you toward that goal, set the idea aside. Know your budget. Your budget defines parameters. If it’s tight, you’re going to have to get creative. That means … Question assumptions. Particularly if you’re moving fast and time is tight, you should consider redefining what a campaign could be. It’s not just about print ads — it could be a guerilla takeover of an event, a compelling microsite, or an invitation-only cocktail-hour introduction to a new service line. Move fast. Speed can keep your plans and ideas focused, and it can shorten the time between campaign launch — and campaign results.

Welcome to the recession, and the new era of value marketing! We’re seeing it everywhere: house brands are the new name brands; we’re shopping the sale racks; and movie matinees are the new hot dates.

Understandably, lots of companies are making the decision to cut prices — reasoning that when consumers are shopping based on value, the best way to stay in their consideration pattern is to keep prices low.

It’s a perfectly rational decision. But it’s not at all the only workable approach, and not every business is able to cut prices. There may be a competitor able to secure deeper discounts for wholesale suppliers, and therefore price more aggressively. Or the business may already be offering products or services at the lowest possible cost.

So does this mean that the business is in trouble, doomed to also-ran status in the race for the increasingly rare consumer dollar?

Not at all. If you can’t compete on value, you should consider competing on values.

It sounds odd. But even when times are tight, consumers aren’t willing to cut back on everything; a family that eats out less is still eating out. What’s changed is that they think about it more, and they really want to make it count.

From a marketing standpoint, it’s less about what’s cheapest, and more about what’s right. Right because the product might last longer, work better, be better for the user, or better for the environment. Or maybe it says something to the consumer, or about the consumer, that she’s really happy to hear.

For instance, Frito-Lay’s Sun Chips isn’t changing their pricing; they’re instead promoting their use of solar power at their Modesto, California, manufacturing plant, with a message that their product is better for you and better for the environment. They’ve also announced that they’re introducing new, compostable packaging next year. And New Balance is pushing a “Made in the USA” message, calling out their domestically manufactured athletic shoes — a subset of their line that includes offerings at numerous price points.

We’ve seen shifts like these — in messaging, in product emphasis and even in marketing channels — in our work with numerous clients in the last few months. And our experience isn’t unique. (The Advertising Age interview with the CMO of Burt’s Bees — linked in the sidebar — gives another example.)

Ultimately, this marketing discussion of values is an interesting sign of a broader conversation that’s happening in every corner of the marketplace: a focus on what really matters. Like any shift in the consumer mindset, it’s a jarring one (ask anyone who’s trying to sell discretionary luxuries). But when things get shaken up, there’s an opportunity to evolve — and there’s plenty of value in that.

These are not the best of times — for anyone. In the marketing and advertising business, we find ourselves working with clients who are in the worst possible position: caught between dueling pressures to cut costs even as they maintain (or build) revenue.

It’s a delicate balancing act. We’ve seen some clients who have decided to secure short-term bottom-line savings by cutting their marketing expenditures. Mission accomplished.

But then what happens tomorrow? My strategy lead spoke with a client last month about how her firm was planning to weather the current storm. Her business is a big one — by virtue of its size and international reach, it’s inescapably tied to the growth or contraction of the global economy. She was thoughtful but very clear.

“Look,” she told him. “We understand the need to cut costs. So there’s going to be some belt-tightening in our marketing, too. But we know from experience that if we stop marketing, our customers will turn their attention to our competitors.

“As things begin to recover,” she continued, “getting that attention back will cost us a fortune. Because we’ll have to go from zero to a hundred in a hurry.”

It was an eye-opening conversation. And it was about as succinct an argument as we’ve heard for the importance of continuing to market — even when the economy is in a slump.

All doom-and-gloom aside, consumers haven’t stopped spending. They’re saving more, which is ultimately a good thing. But they still need shoes and groceries and Internet access; they still pay tuition; they still need regular checkups and vitamins and teeth cleanings, and they still buy gifts for birthdays and anniversaries. There is a Santa Claus, Virginia — and he is us.

What’s different is that consumers are being more thoughtful about why and how they spend. What I’m telling our clients is that their customers first have to know that they’re still there. Second, today it is no less important — in fact, it’s probably even more important — that consumers (businesses or individuals) know what you’re selling and why it’s a good time to buy.

It’s fundamentally the same calculus as marketing in better times — just a different mindset. I can summarize the advice we’re giving to our clients in four main points.

Stay at the front-of-mind. With some customers, you know the purchase will be made. Toddlers need diapers; drivers need fuel; E&P companies need drilling mud. When it’s time for these purchases, you want to be the first source your customer thinks of. Be present, and remain a presence.

Sustain current sales. It’s easy to be confident if the downturn hasn’t impacted you yet. Emphasis on yet—it’s likely to take a while to get through this, and realistically, everyone’s going to feel it sooner or later. Your continuing marketing efforts will help to keep you a part of your customers’ calculations. An important consideration: the message you send may need to be tuned to the times. (Everyone’s concentrating on what’s really important — are you speaking to that new sense of priority?)

Take advantage of opportunities. My investment advisor likes to talk about the theoretically infinite upside of investing when the market’s low. At least part of his point is that equities are cheap right now — and so are a lot of other things. Such as ad space. Broadcast, print, online, outdoor and non-traditional, everybody is dealing. And that’s a good thing — it can help make it very affordable to make a big splash. And speaking of non-traditional, this might be the time to provoke your customers with some new channels and new ideas.

Take a chance on growth. When your competitors are retrenching, you should consider reaching forward — even launching something new. It isn’t just that there are deals to be had (as noted above). It’s that it’s incredibly quiet out there, and there’s a lot of pent-up demand. If you start a new campaign, launch a new product, or even roll out a new brand, you may find a market that’s surprisingly receptive to bright ideas.

Kristy Sexton is the founder and President of Adcetera, an independent Houston, Texas–based strategic marketing and advertising firm founded in 1983.