Advertise, Advertise, Advertise

An economic downturn brings opportunity for those who are willing to take a leap of faith and who have a cash cow they can use to buy advertising when times get tough.  When you go looking for success stories - or survival stories - from the Great Depression, you read that there are a number of examples of brands becoming successful through the trying times. 
The most widely quoted are Chevrolet cars, Camel cigarettes and Procter & Gamble.  Each of these relied heavily on advertising because they realized that they needed advertising to create and maintain brand loyalty.

In 2008, Dave Chase wrote "How brands thrived during the Great Depression", and provided a good rundown on these three:

• Procter & Gamble. To this day, P&G maintains a philosophy of not reducing advertising budgets during times of recession, and the company certainly did not make any such reduction during the Depression. It's not a coincidence that P&G has made progress during every one of the major recessions. While competitors cut ad budgets, P&G increased its spending. While the Depression caused problems for many, P&G came out of it unscathed. Radio took P&G's message into more homes than ever, and P&G became a pioneer in effective use of that medium, including its role in creating the notion of soap operas.
• Chevrolet. During the 1920s, Fords were outselling Chevrolets by 10 to 1. In spite of the Depression, Chevrolet continued to expand its advertising budget and, by 1931, Chevrolet took the lead in its field. It is believed that Ford's weaker balance sheet entering the Depression rendered it unable to respond to Chevrolet.
• Camel Cigarettes. In 1920, Camel was the top-selling tobacco product. American Tobacco Co. then struck back with the Lucky Strike brand, and by 1929 Lucky had overtaken Camel as the No. 1 brand. Two years later, in the heart of the Depression, Chesterfield also overtook Camel. Camel countered with a dramatic increase in ad spend and, by doing so, demonstrated the power of advertising during depressed times. By 1935, it was back on top.

Advertising Lesson #5 from the Great Depression: Advertise ... Hard.

This is my final installment on Depression Marketing.  Hope you enjoyed it, and found it uplifting.

How to advertise in 2011, based on lessons from the Great Depression – Public Relations

To understand the Great Depression and how it affected people, it is important to understand some of the psyche at the time. Travis Scott Luther, President of Luther Media wrote a really good piece a few years ago which described the economic climate:

During the Great Depression of the 1930’s, a backlash against corporate America gained more traction than the bull of the 20’s market ever had. Citizens displaced and bankrupted by the financial fallout of the markets came to call on government for strict regulation and oversight. …

Understanding the increased challenges they faced in earning not only the populations’ business, but their trust, corporations were forced to find ways to bridge the widening gap between themselves and the consumers they so desperately needed to continue to operate. Deconstructing a world-view of large corporations as anti-person, evil teeth gnashing machines grew a new industry usually retained by government, “public relations.” One PR man told Standard Oil Company it would have to alter fundamentally the way it explained itself, saying “Identify yourself not with bondholders,…Wall Street, but with labor, with Americans.”

Public Relations is an element of marketing which is used to build relationships with customers, employees, investors, and other stakeholders. Public Relations may be called corporate communications, media relations, investor relations, or community investment.

Community Investment is perhaps the most visible form of Public Relations. This includes financial sponsorship or active involvement in community programs.This typically works best when it is closely aligned with the corporation’s target market and their interests.

For instance – McDonald’s Restaurants involvement with the Ronald McDonald House has very close alignment with their target market (families) and their interests (their kid’s health).

Lesson #1 from the Great Depression … Public Relations is important.

Marketing isn't Advertising

Marketing is often confused for Advertising.

Advertising is a sub-set of Marketing.

Marketing is a broader discipline that covers:

• Brand - What does your company stand for?
• Product / Service - What are you doing to live up to the Brand?
• Communications - How do you engage in a conversation with your customers?
• Pricing - What is the right revenue management model to drive sales?
• Place - Where and how do you sell and service your product?
• Target Market - Who is your 'tribe' and where do you find them?

Just a part of the equation.

Responding to Social Media Buzz - Step #4 ==> Determine if you should engage

Image by fredcavazza via Flickr

You’re out there watching for Social Media Buzz about your company now, and you start to find content. Now it’s time to determine if you should engage with Twits, Bloggers, Vloggers, and so forth.

On average, each blog post is looked at something like 25 times. Now, that makes for a pretty big cross-section as most blogs are looked at once or twice (and one of those may be the person who wrote it), and some are looked at hundreds of thousands or even millions of times.

One of your first questions might be, “Is this guy important?” There are few ways to really determine if any one Social Media activist is important in the overall scheme of things. One proxy to determine if a person’s blog is important is Technorati.com’s “Authority” ranking. Technorati calculates authority by looking at all links from unique blogs from the past 6 months. That means a blog’s rank will change daily based upon the blog's activity from 180 days ago up to today. As older links fall off the count and new links are added, the blog’s link count may increase, decrease, or stay the same.

Perhaps a good rule-of-thumb is to not spend your time trying to determine a given post’s or poster’s importance, but simply to spend your time engaging with them.

What about Social Media that is filled with profanity or cursing? When customers are unhappy they may tend to write with words that would make your mother blush. The challenge is to figure out if it is worth paying attention to this type of feedback. One way to do this is to take some time to engrain yourself in the other content from the contributor. Do the words that were used spill from bad habit (and consequently reduce the credibility of the contributor), or do they come from the passion or pain of the experience with your company? In the latter case, you really should respond. However, you need to tread cautiously.

Another good rule-of-thumb when experiencing Social Media is to pretend you’re experiencing a customer walking up to you and complaining about their experience with your company. If the person is using the F-bomb as an adjective, adverb, and a figure of speech, then you probably don’t want to engage with that person. On the other hand, if they are using it out of frustration, then you may quickly recognize the need to grit your teeth and engage in the conversation with them.

Related articles by Zemanta

• How To Successfully Track Your Way To Blog Success (beatschindler.com)
• Technorati on the Authority Changes (blogherald.com)

Responding to Social Media Buzz - Step #3 ==> Build out your Tactics

Now’s the time to get into the nitty-gritty of how you’re going to respond to Social Media Buzz. There are several points to consider.

• Brand your blog responses ... Your blog responses must reflect your brand, and must be from your brand. You must never masquerade as a third-party trying to shout the praises of your company. You must always be up front about who you are, and that you represent your company. But, you may not be the person who is actually responding to the Social Media. So, before you even write your first Social Media post, write up a description of the "persona" - the person and his or her personality and "voice" - that you want to respond to Social Media. For instance, if you are responding for a stodgy old bank, then your perona should use a greeting like "Good Afternoon", and always use full and proper grammar. On the other hand, if you are a mountain bike company, your persona should use all the right slang: "Hey dude", "shred", and so on. Everyone that is going to respond to Social Media Buzz must present this branded persona.
• Set a standard and branded greeting ... like “Hi There – It’s from ”. In addition, you might hyperlink your company’s website into the name each time.
• Define the name of your responder ... You have a choice to make here: for the sake of consistency, you may want to use the same "virtual responder" so that all of your responses have the same pen-name on them. The advantage of this is twofold – first off it is easy to search for and find your Social Media responses. Secondly, if over the years you end up with 3-4 people responding to Social Media, they can all respond under the persona's name like "Thanks, Ivy". On the other hand, you may want to use the names of the actual responder. The upside of this is that it is more personal.
• Find the Social Media Buzz … Blogs, Vlogs, comments, reviews, and so on - using Technorati, Google Blog Search, IceRocket, and other suitable searches and feeds. Set yourself up searches and RSS feeds so that it is easy to find Social Media Buzz in the future.
  
• Set up accounts … Each social media service typically has a defined account. By using an account, rather than an anonymous response you build a history on each social media service and also build credibility with people who follow Social Media.
• Staff and train your team … Assuming you get a team. Otherwise, perhaps you are training yourself.
• Join the conversation … Now you’re ready to get involved with social media. Search out good and bad feedback about your company, and get ready to interact with it.

Responding to Social Media Buzz - Step #2 ==> Set out your Strategy

Setting your strategy is an iterative process, which goes something like this:

• Listen to the conversation ... Before you jump in with both feet, find and read Social Media about your company and get an understanding of what those conversations are all about. Determine what the buzz is, and how much you need to be involved with it.
• Set some goals ... This is a tough thing to do, given that the metrics on Social Media are few and far between and it is even harder to see an immediate positive benefit to any responses. This is also the time and place to start doing one of the toughest things … drafting your business case. Take a look at the benefits and consider how you’re going to make or save money by responding to Social Media Buzz. Be cognizant that benefits will not magically happen overnight. They will take time to be realized, and consequently you should stage your benefit calculations over several months or years. Also, be careful not to overstate the potential benefits and costs savings. If you state that you will be able to cut your advertising budget by 50% as a result of improved Social Media Buzz, then your CFO will come calling in short order. In reality your benefits have to outweigh your costs only by a reasonable amount. Potential benefits might include:
• increasing positive buzz about your company (thereby driving up the value of your brand, allowing you to reduce advertising costs, and at the same time driving sales up),
• reducing negative buzz about your company (reducing the amount of time you need to spend defending yourself in the media, and the amount of cash you have to spend on PR),
• increasing your Organic Search Ranking by propagating relevant links to your own website (and thereby both driving more traffic to your site (hopefully leading to more sales), and saving advertising dollars), and
• operational improvements driven by keeping your ear to the ground (improving the engagement and brand loyalty of your customers, reducing advertising costs, and improving the utility of your product or service (which likely has a self-fulfilling effect of bringing more customers to your door)).
• Plan for success ... You will need to give Social Media care and feeding - Social Media isn't something you should step into once and back away from. You have to get into and stay in it. That means that once you determine how you will respond to good and bad social media and you will need to set aside time on a regular basis to participate in Social Media. You may even need to have staff in place to keep up with it. Even more, you may need to involve professionals to help you engage in social media. This is the time to draft up the second part of your business case. Now you will start to develop an eye for how much meeting your goals will cost. How many people will need to be involved in listening and responding to buzz? How often will you do it? How often will you need third parties? Be careful not to dig too far into too many details at this point. Focus on the “why” and not the “how”. You probably want to keep your plan to a few PowerPoint slides featuring big concepts, a couple of examples, and your high-level business case. Also, you might want a short-term and a long-term plan. Your short-term plan will look at the immediate future of Responding to Social Media Buzz. This may be a 6-month plan to staff up a team, create a library of responses, and so on. The outcome will be that you are in the game of Social Media. The longer-term plans may include how you may become involved in other types of social media, in creating your own company blog, or in creating your own customer forum. Put your short-term plan on the table. Keep your long-term plan in your back pocket.

Now for the final - and perhaps most complicated step, because it forms your "make or break moment" ...

• Sell the idea ... responding to Social Media as a representative of your company and brand can test your company's culture and its leadership. Before you do the “big sell”, you will need work the slow and soft sell to a variety of individual executives and your peers to ensure that you understand and are cautious of their concerns, and that they understand what you are setting out to do. To do this well means that you must not be married to your plan. You need to listen to the executives and adjust your goals and plan accordingly.

Buzzing about "Free Prize Inside"

Cover of Free Prize Inside

More vacation reading ... and more buzzing.

I read Free Prize Inside by Seth Godin over my vacation as well. It was very, very, very good. The premise is that to be successful you need to build a product or service that people will talk about, and the only way to do that is to live on the "edge". You have to design something that is so far from normal that it is exciting.

My copy is now full of highlighting and I've gone back through it twice. I'm going back through it again for sure!

Great book, and I'm "buzzing"about it.

Buzzing about "All Marketers are Liars"

Image via Wikipedia

While on vacation I read Seth Godin's All Marketers Are Liars. Now I'm going to
"buzz"about it.

The premise of the book is that Marketers must be in the business of telling honest stories about their products and services that their community will believe, embrace, and spread. In each separate case a marketer's community is a group of people who share a common worldview, perspective, or set of beliefs. If the community finds the marketer's story to be true then they will spread it amongst themselves and lead the marketer to be more successful.

There's a whole lot more to it, and Seth definitely does a great job of describing this theory. As a matter of fact, it seems to be a good companion to The Anatomy of Buzz: How to Create Word of Mouth Marketing by Emanuel Rosen.

In any event - I'm part of the community that shares the worldview that a Marketers role is to tell a great story.

Everything on table as Winnipeg Free Press looks to cut costs

CBC reports (online) that the Winnipeg Free Press is working hard to cut costs. The poor old newspaper industry sure is in rough shape:

• Many of them are leveraged out the wazoo as they were bought with enormous debt (suddenly Conrad Black looks like he might have been smarter to get locked up in jail, then saddled with a newspaper empire)
• People are going online to get timely news that doesn't get your fingers dirty and smelly, and not picking up an outdated paper
• Advertising revenue is plumetting as advertisers chop budgets and look for better ways to get their messages out.

As one comment on the CBC site says:

"This is classic Darwin, the Media version.
Years ago, television killed radio and radio adapted.
Recently, digital cameras killed print film and Kodak adapted (barely).
Today, the Internet is killing print media, and print media had better adapt."

Ottawa Citizen removing more newspaper boxes

CBC.ca reports that the Ottawa Citizen is removing all of their newspaper boxes. Are they doing this because people really don't like to buy newspapers from a box anymore ... or because people really don't like to buy newspapers anymore?

One of the comments to the story is:

Why go to the trouble to remove the boxes? Because they're probably worth more as scrap metal to the publisher, than as the revenue generating devices they were originally designed to be.

Narrowing the Focus of Market GoGo

I'm going to take some of my own advice. The advice = Narrow Your Focus.

What does that mean?

It is easy to take the shotgun approach to offering services. However, you then you don't "own" a word in a consumer's mind. When I started Market GoGo I was definitely doing the shotgun approach, covering off:

• Brand Audits
• Web Advertising and Marketing Strategies
• Marketing Project Management
• Call Centre Projects
• RFP Development and Responses

Today, I'm narrowing my focus. I'll slashing off the bottom two things. The fun stuff (for me) are the top three services. So, if you check out Market GoGo's revamped website in the next few days you will find that the three services Market GoGo ONLY offers now are:

• Brand Audits
• Web Advertising and Marketing Strategies
• Marketing Project Management

Contact Market GoGo to learn more about how we can help you with these strategic projects.

The Marketing Strategies you'll need to do business in 2009

I have spent a lot of the last two months forecasting what I think are going to be the top 20 Marketing Trends for 2009, and also listing out the business strategies that you will need to pursue to survive, prosper, and WIN in 2009. If you'd like help with any of these items, have a look at the Market GoGo site, and don't hesitate to contact Market GoGo to get a qualified Marketing Strategy Consultant to help you.

1. Integrated Interactive Campaigns
   
• Allowing prospects to become customers (e.g. participate with us to get your instant coupon),
  
• Getting prospects and customers to sign-up for promotional emails (e.g. sign-up for an instant saving, and also for future savings ... the "flyers" of tomorrow), and
  
• Building an ongoing relationship with the brand (e.g. play with us and learn more about our products and services).
  


2. Bankruptcy (the penalty for not advertising)
   
• Advertise hard throughout this recession and be sure that the advertising you produce actually works
  


3. Direct Marketing will be in vogue
   
• Creating targeted and relevant campaigns that can be executed on multiple DM channels
  
• Tuning existing DM campaigns
  
• Ensuring your lists are opt-in and accurate
  
• Personalizing DM campaigns based on profile, preferences, and interactions
  
• Treat your email list like gold. Use it carefully. Don't abuse it.
  
• Focus on your existing customers. Mine your customer databases and create appropriate personalized direct offers
  
• Look at each DM media and look for new opportunities.
  


4. Focus on the green in your pocket ... not the green in your forests
   
• Focus on value in the short-term, and
  
• Build a credible and real environmental culture and brand for the long-term.


5. Simple Strategies ... Back to the Basics
   
• Branding - What is your brand promise? How does your company support it? (Does your company support it?)
  
• Retail Ads - To paraphrase David Ogilvy, a good ad is one that sells your product. 2009 is not the time for airy fairy branding ads. 2009 is the time for simple and honest ads that educate people about the value of your product and scream out at them to take action.
  
• Customer Retention - The cheapest customer to sell to is an existing customer. It is time to revisit and work your current customers to remind them that you are a low-risk and well-known value for them (of course, I'm expecting that you really are). Reselling, upselling, and cross-selling are all ways that you can make ends meet (and maybe even eke out a profit) in 2009.
  
• Customer Satisfaction - It is almost like hearing the same message twice. If you are going to revisit your current customers, then you better ensure that they are happy with your product or service, and make real steps to bolster your customer satisfaction.
  
• Real Return on Investment - Projects you undertake in 2009 better have real and demonstrable ROI (and they better have it fast).
  


6. Paid Search advertising will grow substantially again
   
• Do Paid Search Engine Marketing: Oh, and do it well. Track the ROI of keywords and be sure that you are making your money on every word that you are bidding on.
  
• Work your copy: A paid search ad is just a simple little bit of text. But, it may be the most powerful 12 to 15 words you ever write. Test, revise, test, revise, and don't stop. Make sure that every bit of copy you put out there on those search ads is on brand and works as well as it possibly can. Additionally, customize copy for each search term you have out there. You should have tens, hundreds, or even thousands of ads floating out there in the ether of the search world.
  
• Create Landing Pages: Every paid search bid should have its own purpose-made landing page with your call to action highlighted. No one should ever click on your paid search ad and end up at your home page (or worse, a 404 error).
  
• Do Organic Search Engine Optimization: SEO is "free" and having a high organic rank will pay off rapidly - even in places where you are also bidding on a relevant keyword. But, to be honest, SEO isn't free and it isn't a one-time project. SEO requires solid resourcing with people who have a good understanding of what they are doing. It is also a journey not a destination. So, you have to be prepared to continually revisit your SEO and tune your website.
  


7. Online commerce will continue to increase
   
• Know that more people will be hitting your site looking for deals,
  
• Make sure your best deals are present on your home page, and
  
• Ensure that throughout your check-out process you have GREAT and SIMPLE up-sell and cross-sell options.


8. Online Advertising will Continue to Grow
   
• Do review your traditional advertising spend VERY closely. What worked? What didn't? What is dubious? Slash and burn anything but that which worked. Figure out how you can build on those things that worked.
  
• Do online advertising. Look at how you can be creative with it. Also, look at how you can integrate with traditional advertising that is working. Similarly, look at how you can integrate it with Direct Marketing opportunities.
  
• Focus on your Cost Per Acquisition. Use analytics and look at all of your online advertising and its performance (including creative, message, placement, etc.). Use this information to tune your ads and your media buys in order to lower your CPA. To lower your media buys, look at options like bulk buys, advertising networks, or even changing the type or mix of ads you are running entirely (e.g. maybe increase your search spend, and reduce your banner ad spend).
  


9. RFP Responses will be critical
   
• Sharpen your pencil and fill up your printer with new toner and good quality printing stock
  
• Get to know the purchasing people in Government offices at all levels, and get on their RFP lists
  
• Search long and hard for RFPs that suit your business
  
• Fully understand each RFP and what problem it really seeks to solve
  
• Create a compelling RFP response that clearly shows the client you understand their problem, and clearly tells the story of how you will help them resolve that problem.


10. Uncertainty
    
• Adopt a long-term low-cost strategy.
  
• Get back to the basics on your Marketing strategy.
  
• Narrow your focus.
  


11. "Do It Yourself" and Free will be music to consumers' ears
    
• Look for opportunities where your customer can lower the cost of your product or service by doing some of the work themselves.
  
• Ensure that you make your product or service a "must have" item to do the work. (E.g. your product must be the essential item to make the outcome work),
  
• Advertise that the value-add is free, but ensure that the value of your product or service stands out on its own.


12. The demand to build bulletproof cases to gain project funding
    
• Spend a lot of time planning. In fact, set up cross-functional teams to help you do your planning,
  
• Get your teams trained in good planning methods, and
  
• Rely on standard and proven project management and financial models.


13. Online Interactive Marketing will grow
    
• Determine and Pursue your Social Media strategy: First off you have to recognize the value in engaging significantly and frequently with your prospects and customers, and then look at the opportunities you have to "monetize" your involvement. You need to develop a long-term social media strategy, plan, and related tactics. You also need to invest in getting good people and training them to do the job right. Tactics you may employ include:
  
• Publish your own blog - content you might publish includes your Executives views on your culture, your ad campaigns, your product, your people, stories from your customers, and your company's history.
  
• Participate in other blogs and reviews - use Techorati, Google, IceRocket, and others to track blogs and reviews where your company's name shows up, or where topics that are important to you show up. Create a "company blog spokespersa" (which could actually be several people, so long as they stick to the persona). Participate in blogs. For instance, if someone gives your product a good review then thank them for that. If someone gives your product a bad review then see what you can do to resolve the problem.
  
• Add Reviews to your Site - There are two companies out there who can help you get product reviews up on your site fast. They are Buzzillions and BazaarVoice. Either of these two companies can get you up and running fast.
  
• Produce some Online video: Publishing video couldn't be easier with the likes of YouTube and similar hosting sites available for FREE.
  
• Produce TV-like commercials specifically for the web: ... typically lower video quality, shorter, or longer, interactive with the customer
  
• Create Software as an Advertising Media: Build out Google Gadgets, desktop applications, or other similar software that will help your customers connect with you. There has to be real value in the software. But, if you build it, they will come. Plus, they will buy from you!
  
• Build your Opt-in Email List: Email marketing is likely the cheapest and most effective way to reach out to people who have already volunteered to be your customer. If you don't have an inhouse opt-in email list, start one. If you do have it, make sure that your emails are personalized and effective.
  


14. Traditional Print Media will continue to crater
    
• Look carefully at the price and performance of all media - this includes the dying print world, the new interactive world, and everything in between.
  
• Be sure that you have an exit plan for Traditional Print media. If you aren't doing interactive advertising, start now before it is too late for you to get the skills you will need to have to market well with new media.
  


15. TV will do "okay" this year
    
• Ensure your TV advertising is effective. While this may sound obvious ... actually go out and do some research to ensure that your ads have recall, and that the message in them is being understood.


16. REAL Engagement with your customer is critical
    
• Look at advertising opportunities on Social Media sites. There are several advertising agencies and advertising networks who can probably help you do this very effectively and cost-efficiently.
  
• Build a public company blog.
  
• Build secure internal focused blogs and forums to allow your employees to engage with the company and to allow you to learn more about the delivery and branding of your products.
  
• Read and respond to blogs and reviews about your products.
  
• Create a review site for your product on your site, and participate in it actively.
  
• Get access to reviews about your products from your retailers.
  
• Read public reviews about your competitors product and discern from that a certain amount of competitive analysis.
  
• Use testimonials from reviews in your ads.
  
• Create forums for your customers so that they can discuss your product.


17. Balancing that Budget - Looking for more bang for the buck
    
• Innovate. Don't do what you did last year in the misguided hopes that is could work in 2009. You have less money to play with. Figure out new and interesting ways to get your prospective customer or your existing customer to pay attention to you.
  
• Integrate your campaigns. If you are insistent on doing old media, make sure that you find great ways to integrate your campaigns across media. Also - integrate them tightly with an interactive new media element. For instance, the media should all simply include your website. Or, maybe it should direct people to sign-up for a contest on your site - which will also help you to create an opt-in email list.
  
• Look for opportunities to do Direct Marketing tastefully to your existing customers. Make sure you catch their attention, make sure you give them real value in your offer, and make sure you have a solid call-to-action.
  
• Consider (legal) Guerilla Advertising Stunts that will catch attention and give you loads of free and positive publicity.
  
• Try out lots of things on the Internet. If you don't know how, then engage an Advertising Agency or a Marketing Consultant to help you learn more about "how to" and then "what to".
  


18. Survival of the cheapest
    
• BE a Low-Cost company. If you are already a low-cost company, get reacquainted with the strategy basics. If you aren't a low-cost company and you haven't already memorized the list above, then I suggest you buy Michael Porter's book. You can't become Low-Cost overnight. It requires a fundamental change in business strategy and culture. If you are prepared to go this route, be prepared for a challenging yet ultimately rewarding journey.
  
• DISCOUNT your wares, and prepare to eat your margin. Why? Because your low-cost competitor is about to stick it to you!


19. Survival of the one who can help you be the cheapest
    
• Look for the value in your product or service. You probably are doing something today that will help other companies lower their costs. If you aren't then find out how you can change your offering to provide that. You must provide value that will help to lower your customers' costs.
  
• Advertise it! One of the other strategies for surviving - and indeed propsering - throught a recession is to Advertise. Once you find your value proposition that helps to lower your customers' costs, then make sure they know about it.


20. Growth Areas - Healthcare, Education, and Government
    
• Develop products and services that have health benefits.
  
• Develop products and services that have educational benefits.
  
• Figure out where to look for Government RFPs and watch for opportunities.

That's the list.

Thank you Forrester Research! U.S. e-commerce comeback seen by 2010

Reuters reported last week that a Forrester Research report indicates:

• E-commerce in the United States is expected to climb back to last year's levels by 2010 after experiencing slowing growth in 2009 due to the recession, a research group said on Monday.
• Online sales in 2010 could reach approximately $176.9 billion, representing 13 percent growth, said Forrester Research in its five-year e-commerce forecast.
• Last week, the group released data saying the online retail channel was expected to grow 11 percent to $156 billion in 2009, below the 13 percent growth seen in 2008, and the 15 percent growth it had earlier predicted for 2009.

Historically there have been few recessions that have lasted for much more than a year. So, get ready for next year now! It's a GREAT time to figure out your e-commerce strategies and put them into action. Service providers are hungry for your business, and your competitors may be battening down the hatches rather than setting sail.

Have a look at Market GoGo's website to see how we can help you get your e-commerce ship in order.

Summary of my 20 marketing trend predictions for 2009

Over the last several weeks I've hammered away at looking into Marketing trends and figuring out what I would consider to be the top 10 that will be important in 2009. I got way beyond and ended up with 20 Marketing trends that I think will be important. To summarize those trends:

1. Integrated Interactive Campaigns
2. Bankruptcy (the penalty for not advertising)
3. Direct Marketing will be in vogue
4. Focus on the green in your pocket ... not the green in your forests
5. Simple Strategies ... Back to the Basics
6. Paid Search advertising will grow substantially again
   
7. Online commerce will continue to increase
8. Online Advertising will Continue to Grow
9. RFP Responses will be critical
10. Uncertainty
11. "Do It Yourself" and Free will be music to consumers' ears
12. The demand to build bulletproof cases to gain project funding
13. Online Interactive Marketing will grow
14. Traditional Print Media will continue to crater
15. TV will do "okay" this year
16. REAL Engagement with your customer is critical
17. Balancing that Budget - Looking for more bang for the buck
18. Survival of the cheapest
19. Survival of the one who can help you be the cheapest
20. Growth Areas - Healthcare, Education, and Government
    

Tomorrow I'll summarize the key strategies that I think Marketers should pursue in light of these trends.

Trends for 2009: #21. Things that will be a flop (again).

Rejoice, rejoice! This is the last Marketing Trend I see for 2009. To that end, it isn't really even a trend. It is actually a "counter-trend." Anyhow ... on with it.

Here are a couple of things that I think won't reach maturity (again) this year. There is a load of hype around these items, but not a lot of knowledge, practice, or user saturation. At least not enough to make them really usable or useful.

• Analytics: Here's something very important. But, it isn't useful because companies have to invest a lot of effort into setting up, performing, and analyzing numbers in order to begin to understand what the analytics are showing them. Then (yes only then) can they take action on them. By the time you kick off a project to do anything with the analytics, it will be 2010 or 2011, your IT department will have other things going on, you probably won't be in your role anymore, and your replacement will be looking for their own cool project. So, while analyics is very important, there are few organizations that have the fortitude to really do analytics, and very few good people in place to actually build and understand analytics.
• Mobile Marketing: If you've been listening to people in the mobile industry then you may be under the perception that Mobile Marketing is going to rocket next year. Don't fall for it. It won't. Advertisers are still largely ignorant of Search Engine Marketing (which, ironically, is likely the easiest advertising and most effective media going). How are they ever going to figure out Mobile! Besides, mobile browsing is so expensive in North America that consumers don't want to download or click on ads. Mobile Marketing will continue its slow uphill march to effectiveness. So - if you are in advertising ... don't look to mobile advertising as a white knight.

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

NOTE: Sometime in the coming week I'm going to summarize all of the Marketing Trends I see for 2009, and also summarize all of the strategies. I haven't got that all pulled together yet, and it is going to be interesting to see what it all looks like.

Trends for 2009: #20. Growth Areas - You can't do without them!

There are some parts of our economy that will continue to grow - regardless of the economic blahs we're faced with in 2009. In fact, they might grow in spite of the blahs, or even because of them.

People don't have a choice in consuming some of these things, and these are also things that Governments will throw money into in 2009 to help prop up the sagging economy. Those things are:

• Health Care. This is a really broad market. People want to get & stay healthy - so there is a lot of opportunity in things that will help them achieve that, ranging from running shoes to the Wii Fit. People also end up in Hospitals. So - anything serving this market will do well.
  
• Education. When the economy fades people need to reinvent themselves. Enrollment at MBA schools is a good economic indicator in that sense. So - anything that provides educational services will probably do will.
  
• Government. Governments spend their way out of economic downturns. So - responding to Government RFPs is a great hobby during a recession.

What is a Marketer to do in 2009? Strategies to follow include:

• Develop products and services that have health benefits.
• Develop products and services that have educational benefits.
• Figure out where to look for Government RFPs and watch for opportunities.

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

Trends for 2009: #19. Survival of the one who can help you be the cheapest

Yesterday I blogged about the business strategy that will be in vogue in 2009 - the Low Cost Strategy. Actually, I think that being the low cost player is always the right one to bet on, and it should be in vogue regardless of the times.

Today, I'll finish off that posting. The other type of business that can prosper in 2009 is the one that can help another business become the low cost player. These types of "B2B" businesses include:

• IT Service providers - Companies who can truly deliver systems that will truly lower your business costs. I'm not talking about the jerks who delivered the Y2K "testing", the SOx compliance crap (yah - like that helped), or the "CRM" line. No - I'm talking about really great consultants who can help you analyze your company and deliver systems that really take costs out of your business in a sustainable way. I'm also talking about technology services that will change the way you do business and eliminated costs you face today. For instance, take a look at companies who provide Virtual Meeting technology.
  
• Outsourcers - Companies whose core business is doing something that isn't a core part of another's business stand a chance at helping that other business lower their cost. For instance, a company that provides outsourced call center services can pool resources, train resources, and put fancy systems in place that increase their productivity, reduce their costs, and increase customer satisfaction. Outsourcing - done right - can actually help a company to improve its brand while it reduces its costs.
  
• Discount retailers - Companies that can provide basic inputs to a business - like furniture, paper, and computers - at a lower cost than others.

What is a B2B Marketer to do in 2009? Strategies to follow include:

• Look for the value in your product or service. You probably are doing something today that will help other companies lower their costs. If you aren't then find out how you can change your offering to provide that. You must provide value that will help to lower your customers' costs.
• Advertise it! One of the other strategies for surviving - and indeed propsering - throught a recession is to Advertise. Once you find your value proposition that helps to lower your customers' costs, then make sure they know about it.

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

Trends for 2009: #18. Survival of the fittest (i.e. cheapest)

Over the last 10-20 years it has been relatively easy to get into business and stay in business. In general the North American economies have been running in overdrive. To be profitable almost all you had to do was actually produce something of reasonable quality at a reasonable cost.

In 2009 that isn't enough. The two types of companies that will prosper in 2009 are:

1. Those who have low-cost in their cultural DNA. You are already thinking "Wal-Mart", "Costco", "Ryanair", "Southwest Airlines", and perhaps some Indian call centers or IT development shops. AND,
   
2. Companies who can provide innovative ways to deliver greater productivity to other businesses.
   

Today, I'm blogging about the LOW COST STRATEGY.
If you look back at the classic definition of a low-cost strategy by Michael Porter, you look at business tactics like:

• Opportunity to capture considerable market share
  
• Natural advantage or preferential access to inputs
• Process engineering skills - which grind every wasted nickel out of product design, manufacturing, and distribution
  
• "Standard" products with relatively little differentiation that are easy to manufacature
• And also that are perfectly acceptable to the majority of customers
• Technology that will reduce costs
• Sustained access to inexpensive capital
• Close supervision of labour
• Tight cost control
• Incentives based on quantitative targets.
  
• Efficient distribution channels.
  

It is very important to note that Low-Cost does not necessarily equal Low-Price or Low-Quality. Low-Cost only means that a low-cost provider can produce the same product as another supplier at a lower cost. They can still sell it at the same cost and therefore make a bigger margin, or they can get into a price war, sell above their cost while their competitors are forced to sell at a loss, and consequently come out the winner.

What is a Marketer to do in 2009? Strategies to follow include:

• BE a Low-Cost company. If you are already a low-cost company, get reacquainted with the strategy basics. If you aren't a low-cost company and you haven't already memorized the list above, then I suggest you buy Michael Porter's book. You can't become Low-Cost overnight. It requires a fundamental change in business strategy and culture. If you are prepared to go this route, be prepared for a challenging yet ultimately rewarding journey.
• DISCOUNT your wares, and prepare to eat your margin. Why? Because your low-cost competitor is about to stick it to you!
  

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

Trends for 2009: #17. Balancing that Budget - Looking for more bang for the buck

Here it is early February, and I'm still harping on the "top 10 marketing trends for 2009". In fact, I'm up to #17 today. If I keep this up it will December, I'll be around trend #180. AND, I'll be dead on. I promise. I'm nearing the end of my "Trends". There are only about four more to go.

Today's marketing trend has probably already hit home hard for most Marketing departments. Interestingly, back in 2008 I blogged that most Marketers didn't expect their budget to change substantially in 2009. That was based on a number of surveys and reports from respected organizations. Ha-Ha. Was that ever wrong.

At the time the studies showed that 30% of marketers expected their budgets to increase, 45% expected them to stay flat, and 25% expected their budget to drop. I bet by now it is more like 25% hope their budget will stay flat, while the other 75% are facing the actual drop and claw-back from their friends in Finance.

In 2009 successful Marketers will need to become really creative to balance their advertising budgets and achieve results. This will mean the need to become innovative and take some risks. Where is the best place to do that?

• TV? Too fragmented and too expensive.
• Newspaper? Dying media.
  
• Out-of-home? Hmmm - only if you can cut through the clutter with something creative
• Digital video boards? Maybe. These are relatively new and definitely draw in eyeballs.
• Radio? Maybe. If your product or service suits it and you can cut through the noise.
• Direct Marketing? Yes - but do it tastefully, and only do it to your existing customers. Don't go out prospecting. Remember, you must offer value to your existing customers, and there must be a clear call to action.
  
• Stunts? Could be a great way to really innovate in 2009. But, be sure to be original and not come across as a terrorist threat!
• THE INTERNET? OH YAH! There are lots of opportunities to be successful with online advertising. Done well, virtually any type of online advertising will work. Be sure you know what you are attempting to achieve, how you are going to do, and then be sure you do it right technically. Everything from the beaten down banner ad, to simple Google text ads, to a video contest on YouTube can work wonders. Plus, it can be very cost effective and it can be measured.

What is a Marketer to do in 2009? Strategies to follow include:

• Innovate. Don't do what you did last year in the misguided hopes that is could work in 2009. You have less money to play with. Figure out new and interesting ways to get your prospective customer or your existing customer to pay attention to you.
• Integrate your campaigns. If you are insistent on doing old media, make sure that you find great ways to integrate your campaigns across media. Also - integrate them tightly with an interactive new media element. For instance, the media should all simply include your website. Or, maybe it should direct people to sign-up for a contest on your site - which will also help you to create an opt-in email list.
  
• Look for opportunities to do Direct Marketing tastefully to your existing customers. Make sure you catch their attention, make sure you give them real value in your offer, and make sure you have a solid call-to-action.
• Consider (legal) Guerilla Advertising Stunts that will catch attention and give you loads of free and positive publicity.
  
• Try out lots of things on the Internet. If you don't know how, then engage an Advertising Agency or a Marketing Consultant to help you learn more about "how to" and then "what to". (Enough said.)
  

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.

Trends for 2009: #13. Online Interactive Marketing will grow

Okay - I know this may seem somewhat repetitive, given some of my other Trend titles included:

• Integrated Interactive Campaigns
• Paid Search Advertising
• Online commerce will continue to grow
• Online advertising will continue to grow

But, there is a subtle difference here that is important. So, on we go ...

Online Interactive Marketing will continue to grow ... but ... most Marketers will continue to be more familiar with traditional media than the boundless opportunities provided to them by the online world. Even as marketing budgets are slashed and traditional media crater in their reach and effectiveness, many Marketers will not take advantage of the new opportunities that are available cheaply, easily, efficiently, and effectively online.

Some things for Marketers to focus on in 2009:

• Determine and Pursue your Social Media strategy: First off you have to recognize the value in engaging significantly and frequently with your prospects and customers, and then look at the opportunities you have to "monetize" your involvement. You need to develop a long-term social media strategy, plan, and related tactics. You also need to invest in getting good people and training them to do the job right. Tactics you may employ include:
  
  • Publish your own blog - content you might publish includes your Executives views on your culture, your ad campaigns, your product, your people, stories from your customers, and your company's history.
  • Participate in other blogs and reviews - use Techorati, Google, IceRocket, and others to track blogs and reviews where your company's name shows up, or where topics that are important to you show up. Create a "company blog spokespersa" (which could actually be several people, so long as they stick to the persona). Participate in blogs. For instance, if someone gives your product a good review then thank them for that. If someone gives your product a bad review then see what you can do to resolve the problem.
  • Add Reviews to your Site - There are two companies out there who can help you get product reviews up on your site fast. They are Buzzillions and BazaarVoice. Either of these two companies can get you up and running fast.
    

• Produce some Online video: Video continues to grow in importance on the web. A good analogy is that Video is to Text on the web as TV is to the Newspaper in traditional media (i.e. Video rules in terms lasting impressions). Reasonable quality video cameras are selling for about $100 (albeit it makes sense to invest in higher quality for commercial purposes). Publishing video couldn't be easier with the likes of YouTube and similar hosting sites available for FREE. The message ... produce some video.
• Produce TV-like commercials specifically for the web: In the "old days" you might have produced a TV commercial and then posted it to the web. That won't do any longer. Now it is important to shoot TV commercials specifically for the web. How are they different? First off they are typically lower video quality. They also might be shorter. In TV-land, the viewer must sit in front of your ad for 30 seconds. On the web, they will leave you more quickly. On the other hand ... your ad may be several minutes long. On the web you can produce an "advertising epic" - so long as it is truly captivating. People will gladly watch your entertainment, and maybe even forward it off to friends, and you won't have to shell out for a bunch of TV air time. A big way to make your online ads different is to allow a viewer to interact with the commercial. Perhaps the viewer should be able to select characters in the ad, then choose various changes to your plot line.
• Create Software as an Advertising Media: Build out Google Gadgets, desktop applications, or other similar software that will help your customers connect with you. There has to be real value in the software. But, if you build it, they will come. Plus, they will buy from you!
• Build your Opt-in Email List: Email marketing is likely the cheapest and most effective way to reach out to people who have already volunteered to be your customer. If you don't have an inhouse opt-in email list, start one. If you do have it, make sure that your emails are personalized and effective.
  

Will I be right? The year will tell!

• Follow this blog and watch for the next marketing trends I'm forecasting for 2009.
• Feel free to contact Market GoGo to discuss this further.