What cost-effective marketing strategies might my company use in these challenging economic times?

In this new blog series from AEP, “What’s Keeping You Up At Night?, experts offer their advice on the most pressing issues facing the educational publishing industry. AEP members may sign up for a free half-hour consultation with the experts for 30 days after their entry is posted.

The following question was posed to our current featured expert, Gerry Bogatz of MarketingWorks, Inc.

Q. What cost-effective marketing strategies might my company use in these challenging economic times?

A. The tendency of many companies in and out of the education sector is to pull back on marketing when times are tough.  After all, isn’t marketing one of the few areas of a budget that can be reigned in without hurting the bottom line “too much?”  While this may be true in the short run, sales a few months from now can be hurt significantly if a company isn’t putting itself in front of its prospective customers continually.

Here are just a few of the cost-effective ways that a company can market its products in tough times.

1. Search Engine Optimization. Your customers are no longer waiting for direct mail pieces to arrive before ordering–they are finding products when they want them through Internet searches.  In fact, almost 90% of new visitors to a web site originate from major search engines.  And clearly, a top ranking on Google can translate into hundreds or thousands of visitors– and orders–a month.  As web pages proliferate, increasingly more aggressive search engine optimization strategies are needed to remain visible to your customers.  SEO is clearly the most affordable and dependable form of marketing available today.

2. Permission-based Email Marketing. Permission is the difference between legitimate email marketing and spam, turning email marketing into a highly cost effective marketing strategy. The idea is simple and time tested: Deliver highly relevant, timely, and personalized email messages to your customers and prospects at a fraction of the cost of direct mail.

3. Public Relations. News releases, white papers, case studies, awards, and sponsorships of educational events are just a few of the relatively inexpensive ways to keep your brand name in front of your customers.  Likewise, alliances with others who themselves have a strong brand name will enhance your own company’s image while allowing you to share the cost of joint marketing and pr campaigns.

In the end, the companies that continue to market to their key customers and prospects will come out on top.

Submitted by Gerry Bogatz.

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Gerry Bogatz is President and Founder of MarketingWorks, Inc., a full-service marketing, market research, and consulting company serving the K-12, higher ed, adult ed, and library markets.  Consultations can focus on both strategic and tactical aspects of a company’s marketing and sales plans and implementations as well as on market research needs related to a company’s products and markets.

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