July 2012 IABC-KY presentation by Margaret Horlander and Elizabeth Scott of Creative Alliance.

1. Marketing in a Down Economy
IABC-KY Meeting, Louisville, KY
July 12, 2012

2. Today’s Agenda
• A historical perspective
• Strong brand = consumer confidence
• What can I do and can I afford it?
• Using digital in a down economy

3. “You don’t ever want a crisis
to go to waste; it’s an
opportunity to do important
things that you would
otherwise avoid.”
- Rahm Emmanuel
Former White House Chief of Staff

4. Should You Advertise
in a Down Market?
• 1981-1982 Recession
– Companies that maintained or increased their ad
expenditures averaged significantly higher sales growth
during that time and grew 256% for two years after
• 1989-1991 Recession
– Companies that increased ad expenditures experienced
growth from 15-70%
– Companies that cut back on advertising during that time
had a drop in sales from 26-64%*
*McGraw-Hill’s Research of 600 companies between 1981-82 and 1989-91

5. How Does a Recession Impact
Consumer Behavior?
• Decrease in overall spending
– 80-90% willing to trade off or trade down
– May not return to previous spending habits
• Change in lifestyle and how they spend their time
– Staying home
– Focus on home and family
• Focus on products and services that provide a “rational benefit”
– Running shoes? Yes
– Jimmy Choo’s? No
• Consumers, manufacturers & retailers in a “no frills” mood
– Emphasize value (quality divided by price) and how those savings will
benefit them and their family

6. Recession Spending
• Increased spending only likely to be in:
– Online
– Mobile
– In-home entertainment sectors
• Consumers want reassurances about their spending in bad
economic times
– Anxious about keeping job, paying the mortgage, college
tuition, etc.
– I’m making the right decision with the money I have
– Consistency and authenticity are critical

7. Success Stories
– Every Day Low Prices launched in 2000-2001
– Positioned as more than just low prices, but making
contributions to consumers lives
– Consumers staying at home more
– Brand promise = “you can have a superior cooking
experience and you can share this with your friends in a
superior way”

8. 5 REASONS TO STAY THE
COURSE

9. Reasons to Stay the Course
1. Today’s consumer has to be motivated to action. Replace
consumer anxiety with empowerment.
2. Go after or protect market share. It’s less expensive than
trying to rebuild it later and studies show it leads to long-
term profitability.
3. Increase share of voice and top-of-mind awareness. Less
aggressive advertisers leave the door open to consumer brand
switching.

10. Reasons to Stay the Course
4. Great media values are out there. Advertising is still a viable
and important communications vehicle. Purchase
“opportunistically” but don’t sacrifice frequency.
5. The economy will improve. Staying engaged with your
consumers during the recession enables you to optimize
performance now and to accelerate into the recovery.

11. STRATEGIES FOR THRIVING
IN A DOWN ECONOMY

12. Strategies for Thriving
in a Down Economy
• Focus on the Future
– Since 1854 there have been 28 recessions
– Average recession has lasted 10 months
– Position your product or service as bringing value to the
consumer (don’t focus on the “bad times”)
In other words, the economy WILL recover

13. Strategies for Thriving
in a Down Economy
• A strategic marketing plan is vital
– Don't waste money communicating the wrong
“message” in the wrong place to the “wrong”
audience
– Good time to review plans for continued relevance in
current market
• “Stick to your knitting”
– This is not the time to stray from your known brand
– But, do evaluate your brand identity and how relevant it is
to your consumers in this market
– Consumer research essential
– Reinforce the positives, change the negatives

14. Strategies for Thriving
in a Down Economy
• Maintain your advertising budget
– If possible, increase it (just don’t tell your CFO) and let the
competition cut theirs
– Increased ad spending = increased share of voice
• Re-evaluate your media/dayparts/insertions mix
– Changing a TV daypart can save you as much as 19% while only
reducing your reach by about 9%
– Increase time between flights/insertions
– Eliminate weeks of media
• Don’t sacrifice strategy and message
– If you can’t run a full schedule, don’t water down your message

15. Strategies for Thriving in a Down
Economy
• Maintain continuity to sustain awareness
– Consumers depend on brands they trust
– Advertising works cumulatively, so we have to remind
people frequently about our brand or they'll forget us
– A strong brand is the best defense against a difficult
economy
• PR and non-paid media
– Op-eds and pitched stories are more valuable
– Newspapers are not ‘dead’, but their readership and
how consumers access the product is shifting

16. We’re All in This Together
• Recommit to customer excellence
– Internalize your brand: your brand reputation depends on it
– If you don’t already have a service excellence program,
start one!
• Remember your employees
– They are also feeling the economic pinch
– Work with HR to help them get through the hard times
– This isn’t 100% altruistic – your employees are your best
brand ambassadors

17. 17

18. Think Digital in a Down Economy
Allow digital communications and
marketing to do the heavy lifting. If you
aren’t already using digital for marketing,
start now!

19. USING DIGITAL MARKETING
TO YOUR ADVANTAGE

20. DIGITAL SPENDING TRENDS
20

21. The Budget Rollercoaster
41% plan to
reduce print 70% plan to
64% plan to spending increase
increase investment in
budget for social media
SEO (including blogs
and product
reviews on their
site)
http://www.6smarketing.com/infographic-digital-marketing-budget-trends-for-2012/
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22. Budgets May Not Be Growing
But They Are Shifting
28% are moving
some budget to
digital channels
http://www.6smarketing.com/infographic-digital-marketing-budget-trends-for-2012/
22

23. Consumers Find You
on Search Engines
20% of Google searches by
month are for local businesses
46% of daily searches are for
info on products or services
SEO & SEM are
important and worth
the investment!
http://www.6smarketing.com/infographic-digital-marketing-budget-trends-for-2012/
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24. Mobile Matters More Every Year
In 2013:
• There will be over 60
million smartphone users
• U.S. companies will spend
more than 2 million on
mobile marketing (36%
increase over 2012)
• 80% of major U.S. brands
will be using mobile
marketing
http://www.6smarketing.com/infographic-digital-marketing-budget-trends-for-2012/
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25. Low/Moderate Investments = High Leads
Search investments (SEO and
SEM (PPC)) create strong
business leads
% of digital budgets
Social media is
making big gains
as a lead
generator
http://www.6smarketing.com/infographic-digital-marketing-budget-trends-for-2012/

26. Digital Priorities Pyramid
Site Refinement, Analytics &
60% Search Marketing (SEO & PPC)
In 2013, U.S. Online Display Advertising
companies will 30% & Affiliate Partners
spend 21% or
more of their Email Marketing
marketing 5%
budgets on
digital 3% Social Media
Mobile &
2% Video
Mkting
Source: Forrester’s Interactive Models Research: Forecast for U.S. Interactive Marketing Spend
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27. Tackling the Top 4 Digital
Concerns of Marketers
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28. The Top 4 Digital Concerns
During a Down Economy
• I have a modest marketing budget or my
Budget marketing budget is maxed.
Monetary • I have already allocated 90% of my budget. I
am afraid to move dollars from traditional
Allocation marketing to digital.
Media & • I don’t know where to start with digital. There
Medium are so many options.
• I don’t have additional resources to take on
Resources new marketing efforts.

29. • Use free online marketing tools when possible. Your
Budget investment is equal to the time it takes to set them up.
Monetary • Reallocate 15 -25% to digital. Pull funds from low return
investments and move them to 1 – 3 digital efforts.
Allocation
Media & • Do your homework. Search what’s working in businesses like
yours. Not every digital option will be a good fit . Seek
Medium guidance from digital marketing experts.
• Devote approximately10-15 minutes of your time each
business day to digital. It doesn’t have to be daily, but expect
Resources to spend one hour+ per week on digital. Hire an intern and pay
him/her to help you run your digital program.

30. Write It Down & Stick to the
Plan
30

31. Serious Times Call for
a Serious Strategy
Justification
Integration
Campaign/Execution
Budget
Education
Resources
Measurement

32. What Are Your Goals?
What Are Your Digital Options?
Measure &
Acquire Convert Retain & Grow
Optimize
Search Engine Marketing Usability & Accessibility E-mail Marketing Web Analytics
E-Mail Marketing Customer Decision Support Loyalty Programs Site Performance Monitoring
3rd Party
Affiliate Marketing Personalization Competitor Benchmarking
Certification/Accreditation
Aggregators Shopping Copywriting, Content Referrals Online Panels
Comparison Interactive Functionality & Presentation Customer Service Online Surveys
Advertising Partnerships Promotions & Merchandising Choice & Convenience Usability
Co-Registration Personalization & Targeting Dynamic Pricing
Viral Marketing E-mail Marketing Community
PPC Payment Options
Content Distribution/RSS Onsite Search www.boldendeavours.com/191/
Online PR
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33. Digital Checklists for a Down
Economy
33

34. Website: Your Marketing
Front Line
Checklist:
 Have I had my website independently audited  Have I tested usability on my website?
in the last 12 months  Is my website showing up in keyword
 Is my website professional and modern? searches?
 Have I compared my site to my competitors’  Is everything working properly on my site
sites?  Have I gotten rid of Flash elements?
 Can consumers easily reach me via phone,  Do I know how my site looks on a variety of
email, inquiry form, and physical address mobile phones?
 Am I immediately responsive to all inquires?  Do I have strong customer testimonials
 Am I building my prospective and existing  Have I included location-based apps or links to
customer databases and collecting valuable location-based apps for easy downloading for
information about them? my consumers?
 Am I talking about myself and my company on  Is my site listed correctly on all of free
my site or am I talking about what I can do for business listing sites? You may be listed and
my consumer? do not know it.
 Is it hard to navigate?  Are the images helping or hurting my brand?
 Is there too much text?

35. Emails and Eblasts: A Must
Checklist:
 Do I really know what I need to know to be effective  Have I encouraged my email recipients to pass along
with my emails? the message or discount?
 Am I using a reliable and easy ESP (email service  Have I included my social media resources?
provider, i.e. iContact, Constant Contact)?  Am I rewarding good customers with coupons,
 Is my email database clean discounts or special offers?
 Am I collecting consumer preferences?  Does the imagery enhance the message or just make
 Am I following all SPAM and best practice email it look pretty?
guidelines?  Am I tracking my email campaigns?
 Am I correcting incorrect emails and reducing my  Do I know the best days, time of day and frequencies
bounce rate? to reach my audiences?
 Am I faithfully removing anyone who does not want to  Have I purchased a list?
receive my emails from my mailing lists?  Do I have a mechanism to collect new emails
 Am I providing web page and text backups for all of addresses and contact information to expand my
my emails? business’ database?
 Do I have a strong CTA (call to action)? Have I given  Have I started collecting mobile phone numbers for
them a reason to click? future texting campaigns?
 Is my email compelling?  Have I built out an editorial schedule for my emails for
 Have I included all of my contact information in a text the next 6 months?
format?  Am I tracking my email campaigns and are my
campaigns improving upon each refinement?

36. Social Media: You Need It But…
Checklist:
 Have I given serious thought to my primary social media channel?
 Do I know what my competitors are doing?
 Do I have a formal LinkedIn profile? (Particularly important for B to B)
 Have I had my social media presence audited for value?
 Have I claimed my brand on all major channels?
 Have I educated myself and my team on how to use social media for business?
 Is my presence representing my brand to it’s fullest potential
 Am I aware and using new marketing tools available to me?
 Do I really understand what businesses do well advertising in these mediums and what do not?
 Have I built a social media strategy around my brand, products, services, seasonal advantages, pass along
strategies, engaging my fan base, messaging voice and appropriate use of imagery?
 Have I received and acknowledged feedback from followers?
 Am I responsive?
 Am I tracking my social media placements, my competitors and my viral influence correctly?
 Are my fans engaged and participating in discussions?
 Is my page professional and well-designed
 Do I offer my fans special offers and discounts?
 Do I have compelling content? (Worth asking again… Do I REALLY have compelling content?)
 Is social media part of my public relations strategy?

37. % of Firms Using Social Media For
Marketing Activities
37

38. SEO & SEM: Can They Find You?
Checklist:
 Do I know all of my critical keywords and key phrases?
 Has my site been audited for SEO effectiveness?
 Do I show up on page one of my keyword/key phrase search?
 Do I use a regional strategy for my SEM? (If relevant)
 Are strong sites linking to mine?
 Do I encourage social media followers to visit my site?
 Do I track SEO and SEM via analytics?
 Have I done my homework? Do my team and I understand the fundamentals of SEO?
 If my search engine ranking is low, am I engaging SEM with a reputable specialist?
 Is my search marketing company making recommendations to improve my ranking and monitoring
my SEM buys 24/7?
 Am I prepared to commit to a 12+ month engagement in SEM?
 Do I have a way to track leads from search engines and keyword searches?
 Is the abstract that surfaces based on a keyword/phrase search strong, clear and compelling?
 Have I made a compelling offer in my abstract?
 Am I taking search users to the correct pages on my site?
 Am I giving search users an easy but actionable and clickable result? Am I properly collecting
searcher information when they land on my site?

39. Mobile Marketing: Yes, If…
Checklist:
 Have I done my homework on the success rates of the online mobile marketing providers that I
plan to use? (Trumpia, etc.)
 Does my consumer have a smartphone texting profile? Do they message frequently
 Are my competitors doing well with mobile?
 Does my online mobile marketing provider have strong ROI case studies? Are participants
gaining revenue?
 Is my offer good enough to bring new consumers to my business? Is it as good or better than
competitors?
 Am I able to collect and reuse consumer email addresses and mobile numbers so that I can send
out offers directly?
 Have I prepared for business surges and planned accordingly?
 Do I have a follow up plan for participants who click through?
 Am I promoting my mobile campaign via my traditional and online marketing channels? Is this an
opportunity for QR codes
 Am I tracking my spend to revenue ratio from the promotion?
 Do I have the right message and contact information with my incentive or coupon so that
redemption is easy and trackable?
 Am I staying local and building in local relevance
 Have I reviewed my mobile display ads on a variety of smartphones?

40. Free Resources
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41. 23 Free Online Marketing Tools
That You Should Have
• www.goodkeywords.com/products/ • tools.seobook.com/keyword-tools/
• www.google.com/alerts • www.seochat.com/
• www.onlywire.com/ • Blogger.com/
• www.picresize.com/ • www.google.com/trends
• www.smartftp.com/ • marketing.grader.com/
• www.copyscape.com/ • tweet.grader.com/
• www.google.com/analytics • ready.bluestatedigital.com/
• www.gigasize.com/ • go.icontact.com/
• www.alexa.com/ • www.scribit.com/
• www.analyticscheckup.com/ • www.issuu.com
• www.cotweet.com • www.socialmention.com
• www.quora.com

42. Example: Marketing Channel Evaluation
Channel Volume Cost/user Time to implement Mktg Effort Production Effort
Viral / Referral depends on CTA; size of accessible low/zero Low for FB social networks; low low/med
social networks / # users med/hi for normal sites
Email depends on CTA, size of your house low/med Low low/med low/med
lists, email signups (med = create templates)
Blogs / Depends on # blogs in your segment, low/med Low (if just you blogging); low/med low/zero
Bloggers competitive scenario med (if you're setting up big CMS / (med = CMS, prof design)
evangelizing to other bloggers)
SEO depends on your keywords Low/zero Medium low/zero med/hi
(depends on your search geeks)
SEM depends on your keywords Depends Low/med Low/med low/med
(depends on your marketing) (landing pages = med)
Contest small unless big prize $ low/med low/med Med low/zero
(don’t, keep it under $5K) (depends on contest, site, campaign) (med = prof contest site)
Widget Depends on CTA; size of accessible low/med Low/med med med/hi (depends on
sites, level of adoption + bloggers complexity)
Domains depends on keywords, domain costs depends low low Low (redirects/co-brand?)
PR depends on your business & audience Med/hi medium (develop story, build contacts) med low/zero
& news
Biz Dev / depends on partner, size of customer Med-high med/hi (capture metrics, generate Med/hi med/hi
Partner base, conversion reports) (reports, co-branding)
Affiliate / Lead depends on economics Med/hi med/hi (need to build affiliate program, med/hi med/hi (depends on rqd
Gen capture metrics, generated reports) tracking & reporting)
Direct / radio depends on geography Med/hi medium Med/hi low/zero
Telemktg depends on target demographics med-high med-high High low/zero if no system;
Med/hi if integrated SFA
TV Potentially large (if you spend) High Med-high High Med/hi (production cost)
disclaimer: these estimates of vol, cost/user, time & effort are highly subjective & very dependent on your specific business
Source: www.slideshare.com/designing-marketing-plans-1195162412251922-2

43. Example: Justification Matrix

44. THANK YOU!
Margaret Horlander
VP of Account Services
margareth@cre8.com
Elizabeth Scott
Digital Strategist
elizabeths@cre8.com
44