Viva La Brand Shares 5 Tips to Save Money on Marketing
As businesses consider cutting back on marketing, Viva La Brand offers suggestions to cut costs without cutting results
CLEVELAND – August 31, 2009 – As businesses struggle to generate a profit, more marketing executives than ever are considering budget cuts. While reducing spending may be necessary to survive, eliminating the wrong items may be counterproductive.
Laura Sheridan, president of Viva La Brand, offers these 5 tips to save money without sacrificing results:
1. Cut marketing tactics that you can’t prove work or don’t provide an opportunity for learning. Are you still investing in marketing initiatives that you’ve done year after year without knowing the impact on sales, profitability and the customer experience? Busy working on projects that don’t offer an opportunity to learn and optimize results? Don’t keep spending without being sure you are getting huge returns for your money and effort.
2. Conduct market research. When was the last time you had a conversation with a customer? Knowing what’s important to your customers and how they view your brand is fundamental to cost effectively marketing to them. Tailoring your product and marketing messages to their needs will result in business growth as well as increased customer loyalty.
3. Shift your marketing spend. Media consumption habits have changed dramatically. We are shifting from an age of business broadcasting to business conversations. Your media plan should be built around how your customers and prospects want to interact with you. Does your ad agency have the expertise to identify the optimal mix of new and traditional media and create effective executions for each channel? If not, a change may be in order.
4. Re-evaluate your ad agency relationship. Are your advertising results meeting your expectations? Are the fees in line with the deliverables? Use a third party to assess the relationship and renegotiate the fees. You may be able to get more for less.
5. Use Public Relations. It costs a lot less than paid advertising. Share your story with reporters. Provide data, testimonials, and facts to substantiate your company’s superiority. Host a media tour of your operation. World class public relations firms aren’t necessarily expensive and can deliver measurable results. Let the Fourth Estate toot your horn. It’s more convincing than when you do it yourself.
About Viva La Brand
Viva La Brand is a marketing strategy firm that helps business leaders harness the competitive power of their brands. With deep expertise in research, strategy, PR and advertising, Viva La Brand offers a disciplined, effective approach to raising a client’s public profile while simultaneously driving new leads and business. For more information, please visit www.vivalabrand.com.
Press Contact:
Laura Sheridan
President
Viva La Brand
(216) 546-6780
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