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Marketing Tips for 2009
By Jamie Klemcke | January 8, 2009
As a marketing director, I have been focused entirely the last several months on reviewing results from our 2008 marketing plan. Including print ad results, email ROI, trade show effectiveness, webinar and whitepaper success.
In outlining our 2009 marketing strategies and main project buckets, I started to research what others in the industry are saying will be the marketing trends in 2009. My opinion is that businesses will begin reallocating their budgets away from expensive endeavors like TV and radio and putting the focus back on direct marketing efforts that are more targeted and more easily tracked. But it is not enough to just state my opinion so I am turning to the marketplace for facts.
I ran across a Forecast from the Direct Marketing Association (DMA). It states that direct marketing will capture 53 percent of total advertising expenditures. I plan on purchasing the full report so that I can share further statistics on any break-outs they may share specific to the value of targeted direct mail, email and other direct marketing tactics.
I also ran across an article on social networks. The statistics were interesting, but one quote in particular caught my eye.
“Marketers should not write off social networks completely,” said eMarketer senior analyst Debra Aho Williamson. “In a difficult economy it is usually easier to market to an existing customer than to acquire a new one. With a relatively small investment, companies can use social networks to cultivate relationships with customers who have already raised their hand and expressed interest in their brand or product.”
I couldn’t agree more with this statement. We have already included customer loyalty as a focus for 2009 and have some exciting new programs planned to continue to cultivate existing relationships with customers that already value our direct mail, printing and/or email services.
A few ideas include creating an educational forum where we are giving customers ideas on how to better market themselves in their local markets, providing a more extensive library of whitepapers, pod casts and webinars that are relevant to the challenges that customers are facing and implementing more targeted customer surveys. How will we know what to focus on in 2009 without asking our customers?
I plan on continuing this discussion into 2009 and am interested in hearing from you. How are you planning to change your marketing plans in the new year?
Until next time,
Jamie
December 7th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
I really enjoyed your article. Keep’em coming..thanks