15 Aug Tailor Your Marketing
The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article about how Wal-Mart was changing their television ads to reflect the mood of the country; moving away from ads that promoted items like fresh food and trendy clothing and focusing on an older campaign that highlights the retailer’s lower prices.
That is good advice for businesses during an inflation and what many are calling the beginning of a recession. Don’t stop marketing your brand, just adjust the messaging to fit the mood of your current and prospective clients.
Don’t try to reinvent the wheel, just learn how to use the wheel to drive your business.
You might not have the advertising budget of a Wal-Mart, but you can learn from their market research. That is one of the tricks I have used my entire career. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel, just learn how to use the wheel to drive your business.
I have worked at a lot of start-ups. It’s what makes me good at my job. I know what business owners are thinking and the challenges they face trying to grow their business. At a previous cable channel I ran, we were launching a new program geared toward our female viewers. The question came up as to what night of the week we should air the female block. I started researching other cable channels that had programming targeting the same demographic. I found that all the channels ran their new original programming on Wednesday nights. I can’t tell you why that is the case, but clearly there was some market research behind this idea. We had a choice: either we air our new shows on the same night or try to counter-program on another night.
If you are marketing your brand and you don’t have a research budget, start to pay attention to what the larger companies are doing. Are they doubling down on advertising? Where are they spending their dollars? Do you notice any changes to their messaging? All great clues as to what market research is showing.
With that in mind, as you head into the second half of Q3 and look at Q4 and into Q1, focus your messaging on the value you offer your clients. Show ways your product helps the consumer during a down economic environment.
Need more ideas? I would love to brainstorm with you! Click the green Contact Us button at the top of this page to set up a call.
Scott Miller is the CEO of Centerpost Media, host of the Create. Build. Manage. show (seen on BizTV, heard on BizTalkRadio, and available wherever you listen to podcasts,) and a member of the Forbes Agency Council, Entrepreneur Leadership Network, and Dallas Business Journal Leadership Trust. You can find Scott on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter via “@scottmillerceo” or on LinkedIn via “@scottmillermedia.” Centerpost Media is a content marketing agency with a vision to help every business they encounter with their media needs by providing outstanding quality, service and value. Centerpost Media is the parent company to BizTV, BizTalkRadio, BizTalkPodcasts and Bizvod.