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Strategic Marketing In A Depressed Economy
Posted By: buwah on 8/27/2004 2:21 PM (CST) 250 Points
what are the things an organisation has to do in other to manage an economic slowdown when operating in a depressed economy, when such organisation is into manufacturing with three brands in it's porfolio? what are the strategic marketing planning does an organisation need to adopt in order to scale through a recession cicrcle?

Posted by: pkemper* Member Response
8/27/2004 2:35 PM (CST)
Do you have shareholders breathing in your neck or are talking about a privately owned company?
 
Posted by: SteveByrneBranding Accepted Answer
8/27/2004 2:46 PM (CST)
Scaling down is the first option. Another option is merger. Hard to do, but if you find the right company to merge with, you can weather the storm and be even stronger when things pick up again.

Good luck,

- Steve
 
Posted by: jose04 Accepted Answer
8/28/2004 3:00 AM (CST)
Hello Buwah

Welcome to the KHE club!

Being in the heartland of recession is always a challenging position to be in. Very often people do think of the possibilities of marketing only when sales is low, as in the case of a depressed environment. You have to place your three brands in your own theoretical map and categorise/rate them into 1)whether they have good future potential or 2) they are dwindling in sales and with no hope of a good future or 3) whether they are worth only to be phased out. THese decisions corroborated with popular portfolio models like the BCG matrix or your own experience in assessing the state of affairs of a business.
Check out

http://www.netmba.com/strategy/matrix/bcg/

Also there is nothing like a trustworthy consultant to help in this situation with their ideas and sharing.

As i said an economic slowdown and recessionary economic zones are opportunities to use our marketing visions and creativity. The appropriate marketing mix to suit the occassion will be the obvious experiment you can initiate. As recessions implicate that consumers have less money to spend, and the mood of the market is not emotional and carefree, your strategies have to infuse a bit of excitement into the marketer. Incidentally these steps get you to be noted in the marketplace and you may even enhance your brand value for your future, if you act carefully. Stick to the basics, by only making promises which you can keep.

Obviously you are the best person to decide what strategies best suit you, based on your priorities, resources availability, etc. If you can't do it (the strategies) alone, and if alignments help- go for it. You also know the implications of such alignments.

I'm sure you will take the right steps for your company's future.

Hope these thoughts help!!
 
Posted by: EW* Accepted Answer
8/28/2004 4:52 PM (CST)
It depends! Probably not the answer you wanted to hear, but in the absence of more information, it is the best I can offer.

The reason is that I have seen categories such as chocolate and chewing gum prosper in difficult economic times because they represent low cost pleasures or joys that people can bring into their life at any time. So one thought is to consider ways you might be able to boost sales for your brands during this time-- particularly if competitors are laying low and have cut advertising or promotional spend.

It is also a good time to go through every aspect of your products' manufacturing cycle-- start with a sealed case and work your way inward to the actual product/formula/item and look for alternative ways to cut costs or drive efficiencies. This should be tackled by a team of marketing (consumer), manufacturing, and R&D minds. This may generate enough monies for you to cut back on pricing or better yet, add more value into your offering.
 
Posted by: jcmedinave Accepted Answer
9/2/2004 4:57 PM (CST)
Maintain and develop your present customers. Focus, concentrate resources, reduce no necessary things or activities, priorice. Use the Marketing Direct, develop alliances and business partners, it is always better the help, don't reduce services but put some low prizes to them in order to increase your margins, maintain a frequently and open communication with your customers, let them know your changes and why you are doing them, and develop promotions because everybody will be looking for them.

Bye,

Juan Carlos
 
Posted by: W.M.M.A. Accepted Answer
9/9/2004 6:43 PM (CST)
I believe Juan CArlos is absolutely correct.
If you have up or cross-sell products, or a diminished buy-list, recontact them and ask them to become customers once again. Offer them an incentive to come back. If you show them you truly care, they will stay.'
Randall W. Montalbano
Senior Advisor

WMMA
 
Posted by: Sharon Moderator Response
9/12/2004 7:36 PM (CST)
Hello all. I am closing this question. This is standard procedure when the question author gets busy and falls out of the conversation for a while – or doesn’t understand the procedure for closing.

Thanks for participating!
 
Posted by: walebalogunk Member Response
10/20/2006 11:53 AM (CST)
I could not post a response since that article itself has been removed.

wale balogun k
 


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