With the UK up to its knees in a credit crunch, we here at Prodo want to share our advice to businesses across the North West to save them from drowning. Our first rule of thumb is firstly for every company (even if you are still doing OK!) to look at your marketing campaigns. If you are struggling, remember not to hide your head in the sand, it is much better to relook at your marketing and use cost effective marketing techniques to help promote your businesses more cost effectively.
This advice also comes after a new report published by the IPA (Institute of Practitioners in Advertising) which shows a decrease in marketing budgets. The report goes on to recommend that whilst budgets have dropped, using more cost effective marketing techniques such as email marketing should be used to help firms get through the current economic slump successfully.
In fact, the British Chambers of Commerce (BCC) has announced that it feels that it would be a bad idea for firms to cut their amount of marketing activity they are undertaking.
They want firms to consider whether they have to adapt to the current situation by using alternative marketing techniques to get the best from their campaigns. Something that we would recommend to all those facing difficulties.
We know that budgets are tighter than ever before – but also never has it been more important to make sure every pound counts. This is a good opportunity for every firm to look closely at their marketing budgets and activity. In fact, cutting your budget completely could create long term damage to your brand and even result in losing not just new customers, but your current clientele.
Because of this we predict that Internet Marketing, Search Engine Optimisation, Pay Per Click and Online Public Relations will all do well next year as businesses try to stand out from the competition with reduced budgets.