Now is the time to crank up your marketing efforts. The ONLY way to work (which is the key word here) our way out of a down cycle is to increase marketing efforts for your business This will help threefold: (1) You will get more leads into your sales pipeline, (2) You will enhance your relationship with your existing clients, and (3) You will refocus on defining your “REAL” value-add and develop ways to maximize their value in the minds of your audience. Therefore, you will have the opportunity to expand your business into new accounts/.markets or you get more business (share of wallet) from you existing clients. I know that this is all easier said than done, but we all have to try if we want to grow now.

Magicomm is doing it by enhancing our web site landing page (if this is the first time you visited, you won’t know this) and we are “beefing” up our demo platforms, interactivity, and high value content such as samples and case studies. We have some pretty good stories that we are going to share. You will see many changes over of the next couple months. It’s a rolling effort, because we have more ideas then resources and we still have to continue to service our existing clients to “keep the lights on.” Additionally, we are evaluating new markets, products, and services that we can “quickly” expand our business with. Opportunities are everywhere, just sometimes they are not out in the open.

It’s easy to cut marketing budgets to save costs. The proof of that thought process is everywhere around us. But maybe we should look at the competitive and economic environment around us to find where growth exists. It does exist, you know. Learn how marketing techniques and tools have changed. The “traditional” ways of marketing are being challenged. The shift is towards leveraging the internet (web site, email, and personalized url’s), integrating the web with print and communicating more relevantly. Databases, personalized communications, social media strategies, and the ability to have measurable results are becoming increasingly important. Real time feedback to our prospects and them having “instant” access to information has high value. Time IS money. Cross media marketing strategies, including use of viral techniques, are coming to the forefront in our marketing thought process. Mass marketing is becoming less important. Finding the right person and communicating with them in the way they want is the game we are in now. The consumer of the information is increasingly able to control the conversation with corporations. It’s becoming more of a “pull” communication process than a push the message out to them process. Deal with this new reality. Don’t delay.

The sands are shifting and we cannot deny it! Why would we (The truth is a defense)? It’s summer time and it’s fun to play in the sand and the sun (equating sun with new business opportunities…I wanted to make sure that you got that connection. LOL). It’s more fun trying to grow business than it is trying to cut costs to profitability (or oblivion?). Don’t be a stay at home couch potato when all the fun is outside. Come on in and join the fun. What’s the worse that can happen? Getting a sunburn? That doesn’t seem so bad, now does it?

My cut on this GREAT bit of information confirms that we are in a galactic shift where growth is in the new media and away from the traditional mass media. We all have to think differently when developing a strategy to help a company grow. No big surprise there, when you consider that we have been told for several years now, that the messaging which marketing services companies and ad agencies are developing for their clients’ needs to be more relevant and targeted. Using databases driving the messaging has become the new craft in our industry. Communicating to fewer, while providing more value is key!

More changes in thinking are required to succeed. Considering the impact of social media (such as blogs and social networks) is growing, corporations need to accept the loss of control of medium used for delivering the message. Not just focusing on selling their wares and making the message one directional. If what they are presenting to me is of no interest, I not only throw it away, but I discard it quicker the next time I see their name on something that is sent to me (whether it is email or print…won’t matter). They don’t know me and don’t care to understand what my interests are. They are more interested in pushing their products on me, as opposed to understanding how they can add value to my life. This creates a situation that forces marketing services companies to build bi-direction communications strategies. Pushing information to their target markets is not good enough anymore, the information must be relevant and an avenue for direct response becomes more important in developing trust and a relationship with the consumer.

Traditional print is not the only way and surely (Don’t call me Shirley!) using mass communication techniques (newspaper, radio, and tv) must not be the only strategy going forward. Using an integrated direct communications cross media strategy (now that is a mouth full) to establish a conversation (more touches equals higher response) will provide better results AND provide for increased customer satisfaction. It only makes sense to think this way, doesn’t it?

This is why marketing jobs are growing, because there are more options and companies are looking for answers. The “new” kids (whether it is veterans looking for new adventures (like me) or new college graduates) entering the marketplace “get it” and those that have this line of thinking are finding opportunities. Those whose only answer to a company’s marketing strategy is “run more ads” are going to be the losers and they will find out of the market quickly. It’s much more that developing “pretty pictures” and getting more eyeballs…SOOOOO MUCH MORE!

January 14^th issue of BtoB Magazine: ?Social Networks starting to click? This article discusses the growth of Web 2.0 usage among marketers and how they are becoming more focused and relevant to a targeted group. With this comes a loss of control over content by the traditional publishers and advertisers. The individual can now comment on a topic/company/product and that thought will be broadcast worldwide in nanoseconds. This scares many, but there is no way to put that ?horse back in the barn?. This will force us all to reflect more on how we present ourselves to the outside world and it will force corporations to rethink how they manage their relationships with their customers. These relationships can be established faster due to the enhanced ability to generate a dialogue between the corporation and the individual.

January 15^th issue of Marketing News Magazine (published by the American Marketing Association): ?2008: The Year Ahead- What to look for in the coming year from social, mobile & experiential marketing? Their focus on social, mobile and experiential is telling. As the communication channels continue to evolve, it will become increasingly important for corporations to consider how they spread their marketing resources around. More channels make for more competition for each channel to prove their value and ability to deliver the message and the revenue opportunities. That will be no small challenge for some of them. The ?mass blast? same message to all is becoming decreasingly a consideration, especially when you layer on top of it the requirement for being able to track results to revenue. Branding is still important, but making more revenue in a down economy is critical to survival. Take my word for it, being a small company we are striving to grow in the difficult environment.

February 15^th issue of Marketing News Magazine: ?On the Map- Location-based marketing targets consumers where they are with what they want?. Another illustration of the requirement for mobile communications and that marketing strategies take into account that consumers will pull their content and that using a pure ?push? marketing strategy may weaken over time. This will also play well into the social networks, with their basis being to have their participants ping into them when they feel motivated to respond, regardless of their location.

March 10^th issue of BtoB magazine: ?New technology, emerging channels hot topics at DMA?. Blogs and podcasts are more than a fad, they are becoming a way of life for marketers and we are all trying to understand how to best monetize them and leverage them for their true power of building relationships with consumers. When you have a member of the IBM team discussing the impact of blogs and podcasts on purchasing decisions, can we say that this way of thinking is entering mainstream marketing disciplines? Inquiring minds want to know.

And lastly, for the purpose of this train of thought, the Boston Globe published an article on March 24^th titled ?Ad networks form to take on big Net firms? that discusses traditional media companies building ad networks that take advantage of the proliferation of blogs and helps their customers purchase ads on them. This move shows that the power of these communication vehicles have been noticed by the more traditional publishers. These new ad networks will identify the specific blogs that are relevant to a topic and then group them for a broader based media buy. Their power to communicate is expanding into the more traditional markets, which this article clearly identifies.

So, what does this all mean, Mr. Wizard? I believe that we are seeing more than a fad in thinking but this shift in resources from mass advertising and stand alone marketing channels will accelerate in the future. Print will still play a part, but it will increasingly become a component in an overall marketing strategy that will use the web for order fulfillment and social networks to enhance brand awareness and customer relationships. Those companies that remain in the Dark Ages in their marketing thoughts will become road kill on the highway of progress. Too many forces are coming into play for us to ignore them and these forces are on a cultural level and not related to only one industry or group of industries. It is becoming a life style decision for consumers, as well as a business decision for the organizations that want to service them. Where are you going to play in the future? Inquiring minds want to know!