Get On Target To Maximise Your Marketing In A Downturn

• Follow the money
  
  In the new economy that is taking shape around us, buyer behaviour is changing. It's incumbent on salespeople to sharpen their sleuthing skills and follow the money. Take time to look at your market and ask yourself how the needs of buyers are changing - and how you can best position yourself and your organisation to meet those needs.
  
  To illustrate my point, consider the changes that we're seeing in the car industry. Sales figures for most car markers are pretty discouraging. Economists point to all kinds of reasons as the cause behind this, but the effect is clear: people are keeping their vehicles longer.
  
  There are opportunities here for those who choose to see them. If people are keeping their cars longer, doesn't it stand to reason that they have to take better care of them? It's not a stretch, therefore, to suggest that car owners could be frequenting garages, auto repair and tune-up shops more often. To complete this illustration, a smart organisation that targets these customers and caters to their needs will be well-positioned to smack those sales home-runs with confidence.
  
  
• Spend money on those who are spending with you
  
  This is not the time to be taking a shotgun approach to marketing, trying to be all things to all people. Rather, this is when you should be targeting those who know you best - particularly customers that have a higher propensity to buy from you in good times and in bad. Spend money on those who are spending with you.
  
  Don't make the mistake that so many companies make during an economic downturn, taking a hatchet to their marketing budget. There's a real opportunity right now for smart companies to step up their advertising and marketing efforts - provided that they are willing to invest the time to target who they are going to reach with their message and then measure the results.
  
  In addition, consider how you can improve up-selling and cross-selling in your current market.
  
  Look carefully at who buys your products or services. Let's say you notice that in your food-services company, your product line is selling briskly among women who are restaurant owners in your local area, in the 45 ­- 65 age bracket. That's who you should be targeting. Find out what their needs are, and market aggressively to them, showing how your product meets that need.
  
  
• Be creative
  
  Success in the new economy is about adapting quickly to change, but these times also offer an opportunity for you to become a game changer. Creative solutions to age-old problems have a way of finding an audience - no matter what market conditions are like out there. Look with empathy at your customers. Ask yourself, are there barriers that tend to get in their way of doing business ... things that frustrate them in their work?
  
  Think about how your organisation can ease that pain, starting with a simple, bold new idea or approach and give it time to germinate. That's the essence of what Clayton Christensen of the Harvard Business School describes as disruptive innovation. He notes: "Success comes from figuring out how to satisfy a real customer who needs to get a real job done".
  
  Don't underestimate the incredible opportunities that are at hand in this new economy - to change the rules of the game - no matter what industry you work in.
  
  

Remember that targeting is about being selective:

1. Focus on the customers who are spending
   
   
2. Understand how their habits might be changing
   
   
3. Find solutions - especially innovative ones - that can help position you and your organisation to remain on top
   
   

Targeting is as much about staying focused on customers as it is about being able to distinguish those really exceptional clients from the all the rest.

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