Small Business Marketing in a Recession

The UK recession is hitting businesses hard and the first reaction for many businesses will be to cut costs in order to survive the tough economic climate. The budget for Marketing is often at the top of the list when costs are being lowered, seen by many as a 'non-essential' part of the business. But is this true? Can businesses survive a recession if they are not communicating their offering to their target market?

Don't fade away...

Small businesses in particular are in danger of fading away, allowing competitors who maintain their marketing activity to push them out of the market and inevitably out of business. Marketing after all is all about knowing what your customers want, tailoring your offering around that need and communicating the benefits you can offer them. If you stop telling customers why they should buy from you it is more than likely going to result in reduced sales and a reduction in brand awareness. Small businesses shouldn't assume that customers stop spending during a recession, consumers will simply be buying differently. Businesses therefore need to adapt their marketing communications in order to attract customers who are looking for value and are price conscious. Tell customers why they should spend their money with you and give them good reason to do so by communicating your unique benefits and using special offers to attract sales. Customers want to feel as though they are getting a good deal, you need to give this to them.

How Small Businesses Can Survive the Recession...

Marketing doesn't have to blow the budget, small businesses just need to use cost effective marketing techniques in order to attract customers. Here are out tips for cost effective marketing techniques to help you survive the recession:

• Low Risk Marketing Strategy - try several marketing techniques which are low cost and therefore low risk. You may want to try Online Social Networking, Affiliate Deals, PR, E-Shot Campaigns and Search Engine Marketing, which are all low cost marketing techniques.

• Meausure and Move On - Everytime you try something new, ensure that you measure and analyse its effectiveness, if its not effective stop it and move onto another marketing technique. When you find techniques that are producing good results, try expanding the activity in order to maximise the return.

• Competitor Analysis - Keep an eye on what your competitors are doing, and in particular the successful competitors. See what is working for them in the current climate, take inspiration from this and apply it to your business.

• Low Cost Help - If you need some help along the way, try our marketing mentoring service which costs only £10 for 30mins of our time and marketing expertise. It's a 'pay as you go' service which provides small businesses with affordable marketing support when they need it.

Small businesses shouldn't fall into the trap of cutting all marketing activity in order to survive the recession, this could have the opposite effect, letting you fade away and loose market share. My suggestion would be to implement a low cost and low risk marketing strategy that keeps your business infront of customers and could even see you take market share from your competitors who may have dropped their marketing altogether.

For cost effective marketing mentoring for your business contact Contrast Web Solutions.