Marketing Tactics in the Economic Downturn

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Let’s look this week at traditional offline marketing tactics through the lens of the economic downturn.

Telemarketing enjoys the best ratio of the offline tactics. Nearly as many marketers plan to increase their spending as decrease it. ‘Tele-nurturing’ might be a better word than tele-sales or telemarketing; most organizations are not making cold calls. The tactic also benefits from being a measurable and direct line to prospects.

Direct mail has experienced a decline in efficiency over recent years. But it remains a reliable tactic that produces strong results for companies in all industries and products. For many companies, however, the direct mail budget is a place to cut. In place of glossy brochures or dimensional mailings, expect to see a proliferation of postcards and personalized letters, which can be produced at less cost.

Events are already suffering in the fourth quarter and can be expected to hurt for some or all of 2009. Conference attendance is down, spurring deep discounts across many industries. The effects are being felt among sponsors as well; they are choosing smaller displays or attending rather than exhibiting. A MarketingSherpa study last June indicated that some types of conference attendance would drop by approximately 10% over the next 12 months. The state of the economy may deepen that decline.

Radio and TV are getting hit hard, with ample evidence to support the downturn. Spending on broadcast media, in particular, is expensive and one of the first places to see a cut.

Print advertising has been under pressure for some time and the downturn isn’t helping. The migration of advertisers to online offerings of traditional publishers didn’t show a one-to-one match of dollars even before the recessionary economy. Today, all marketers are trimming their print budgets, renegotiating for more favorable rates or both.

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