Love, not money
When money gets tight, marketing budgets get tighter. MarketingSherpa reports that 43% of CFOs think that marketing budgets should be the first to go. (Which is, of course, insane. "We need money - let's stop pursing customers who will give us money!")
Word of mouth marketing is what you need in tough times.
You need an army of fans who promote you and recommend you because they love you. Not because they were paid or saw a message that you paid for.
Now is the time to get passionate. Earn love, turn people on, pump them up to pump you up. Their recommendations will carry you comfortably through any down times.
P.S. Get the MarketingSherpa report about marketing in a downturn here.
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Ina said... (Apr 16, 2008 9:39:04 AM)
Hi Andy,
It takes time to build up a small army of fans.It does not happen overnight and you had better have a good product.
Ina
SuziB said... (Apr 16, 2008 10:33:07 AM)
Hi, Andy. Do you have any recommendations for internal communications word of mouth marketing? I am launching a sub section of our intranet site and want to do more than send an e-mail that says "go to this URL, it's great!" Have any great ideas for a low budget operation? THANKS.
Tanya Middleton said... (Apr 16, 2008 4:00:01 PM)
Word of mouth marketing is for sure changing the way we approach social networking systems of consumers. It can be difficult to stay on the cutting edge of media outlets and new ways to approach your business. It helps when you can find the majority of answers in one place. I actually work with Microsoft, and right now I’m really excited to spread the word about the “Vision to Venture” tour they’re having between April and May, which will consist of five live events insiders showcasing trade secrets and featuring "Girl's Guide to Building a Million Dollar Business". One of the featured speakers, Susan Solovic, an award winning small business advocate, will be discussing online business promotion that’s easy and affordable, as well as many other speakers offering industry tips. The tour is fully geared towards entrepreneurs and savvy web businesses. You can see more and register at http://smallbusiness.officelive.com/v2v/ so let me know what you think! And if you have any questions, I’d be more than happy to answer them !
Andy Sernovitz said... (Apr 18, 2008 12:28:53 PM)
Tanya --
That comment of yours is a pretty shameless and spammy promotion. You goal is clearly to sell passes to your event, and your comment has nothing at all to do with the topic of the post. I hope you aren't doing this on other blogs.
I would delete the comment, but I'll leave it here as an example to others.
Andy