In a down economy the companies that choose to sit on their hands and hide under a rock are usually the companies that come out of the recession wondering where all of their customers went.
A company’s marketing plan during a recession can make or break their future success. Choosing to pull back on your marketing initiatives and not reach out to your customers could result in the loss of customers who no longer feel appreciated.
Contrary to the above statement, the companies who continue and even increase their marketing campaigns tend to rise to the top and win customer appreciation. While it may seem like a risk to increase marketing campaigns, the results could prove to be far greater in terms of current customers maintained, and new customers gained.
Today there are many different resources to utilize for marketing and advertising purposes and deciding on which avenues to spend your time and money can become a challenge. Many companies are taking advantage of social media sites such as: twitter, Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and various other free online outlets. This is an easy way to stay in communication with your customers, but it should not be the only way.
In an article from
DMNews.com, Bryan Yucran wrote, “experts say [companies] shouldn't eschew traditional direct marketing at its expense, because smart companies who continue a dialogue with their customers through a recession – using the tactile, personal direct mail channel usually come out the better for it.”
Staying connected to your customers can become difficult when budget cuts are occurring. Implementing a direct mail campaign that targets specific customers in desired locations could prove to be cost effective and may provide a strong return on investment in the hopes of maintaining your customers’ loyalty. While social media reaches customers in abundance, the target audience might vary dramatically in both demographics, and location. With a direct mail campaign you can control the volume and geographical location of your customer recipients, thus making your campaign more specific and efficient.
By pairing a direct mail and social media marketing campaign your company will be able to stay ahead of the curve by maintaining consistent communication with your customer base during a recession.