Coffman Communications

A common knee-jerk reaction to tough economic times and slow sales during a recession is to cut advertising, marketing and promotional budgets. This is the absolute wrong thing to do and the worst time to do it.

Smart business people will either maintain or even increase their advertising budgets and step up their promotional and marketing efforts since now is precisely the time when you can shine. With so many others cutting back, your message stands a better chance of being noticed. Make sure you play up how you can save people money or solve a problem for them and you'll find customers flocking to you.

People are still spending money; they're just being a lot more careful with how they do it. The standard practices of throwing it out there and waiting for people to buy will not work right now. You have to really customize your message to show people the value you provide. That doesn't necessarily mean the lowest price, but it had better include some service extras or some other incentive that differentiates you from the competition.

Things that frugal shoppers are looking for right now include free shipping and other little extras that make what you have to offer seem like a better deal than your competitor.

Remember, don't slash those advertising budgets just because times are tough. Get creative and really focus on the message you are sending to potential customers.

Need help? Coffman Communications would be happy to tailor a strategy specifically for your business.