The Marketing Agency Talk

What was your biggest triumph in 2008?

What was the smartest decision you made in 2008?

What major indulgence are you willing to experience in 2009?

What would you most like to change about yourself in 2009?

These are just some of the great questions Vivienne asked in her Completing 2008, Creating 2009 post.  Please check out the questionnaire originally designed by John Stamoulos as these cool questions really serve us to recollect 2008 and plan for 2009 with a better clarity.

Perturbation may be what you will experience as you go through the questions but then again, that’s part of the learning and growing process.  If you think this is one of those cliche “plan-ahead” post that will not help. Well, think again, is the problem with the questions or with you.

I was wondering why Vivienne spent her Christmas Eve writing about achieving a better bottom line. Then again, if you are a business owner or a dedicated business executive, you would be thinking of your company’s business whether it’s a work day or public holiday especially with the economy going south.

Ad agency, media agency, creative agency and even PR agency are affected by the economic downturn. With dwindling advertising budget and a scale back of sport sponsorships, our business is adversely affected. Just like one of my peers said, “The client can be asking for too much. Increase quantity. Increase quality and then asked me if the price can be reduced. I have cost too.”

I agreed that’s not fair but it’s not unreasonable for the client to push his luck. Many agencies who were desperate to retain clients are known to give ridiculous discount. The client has a right to ask. The worse case scenario for him is just a “no”.  Just like my friend who has a substantial overhead for his creative agency, the client is worried about his bottom line. Already retailers are complaining that Christmas sale took a dip of 30-40%. The most pathetic feedback I heard so far from a roadside vendor was that he only made a profit of $5 after tending his store for 16 hours. Sure, he was selling low ticket items like snacks and newspapers. But that tells you that people is scaling back on buying small items too. So small and big businesses alike are worried about expenses, cost and bottom line now.

One financial adviser said during a economic slowdown, it is best to send your staff for training or re-training so that we can maximise them when the good time comes. And for bosses, his advice was to upgrade our knowledge especially in financial matters. He lamented that some senior managers don’t even understand what the numbers say on the P&L sheet.

Perhaps like Vivienne suggested, it is best to look at our own financial blueprint and knows our own wealth dynamics to understand if our financial habits empower or destroy our financial well being. Instead of scaling back, she is attending seminars and workshops to tide her over the financial tsunami. If you believe that is a wise move, then I suggest you take a look at THE BOTTOM LINE, a workshop she just signed up on Christmas Eve. It;s about how to manage your flow to make more profit with less stress.

Me? After checking out the testimonial, I’m doing my best to get the boss to sponsor 1 or 2 of us to go sunny Singapore to fix our flow. After all, it’s essential to have a healthy bottom line regardless if the economy is up or down.

Tags: bottom line

Direct mail is a powerful tool to deliver a message straight to your target customers’ doors and by talking to them directly, more business will be streamed to yours.

The 6 Benefits of Direct Mail

Mass advertising like TVCs, print ads, radio commercials, etc, are expensive. Many start-up as well as small businesses may not be able to afford the high media cost. By analyzing your own product profile and decide what problems you are solving and who you are helping, you might want to focus on a niche group of individuals who are more prone to respond to your offer. Mass advertising talks to everyone. Direct mail talks only to the people you are targeting. In short, direct mail is targeted and you have a personalized message specifically for your niche only.

Direct mail also benefits from a flexible format. From sales letters to flyers to brochures to postcards, there are numerous ways to create a direct mail. Such versatility empowers you to customize your marketing literature in a low cost manner. You can sizzle your message further by offering a special incentive (in the form of a physical coupon or coupon code) or free sample . These special offers are only available for the recipients’ of direct mail.

You can track the success (or failure) of your direct marketing effort by counting the number of inquiries or coupons you have received.

Another benefit of direct mail is that it is tangible.  Announcement and special offer in the direct mail encourage interaction because they have the coupons, stickers or coupon codes in hand, literally. With the particulars of your customers in hand will enable you to start a customer database. This will help you tremendously in starting a customer-care program or even a loyalty program for repeat customers.

Direct mail advertising can be very cost-effective. If you are good with DTP, you can create your own marketing material in a jiffy. Plus, postal rate for bulk mail usually cost a faction of the normal rate. If you don’t have the time or the expertise to create your own marketing materials, hire the professionals - ad agency or design film (like us) to assist you.

If you have a small marketing budget, you can always count on direct mail as one of the effective but relatively low cost advertising tool. Just make sure your message solves the problems of others. You do not want to be seen as thrusting your products in people’s face.

Tags: direct mail

Like it or not, right or wrong, most clients will cut marketing and advertising budget when the economic outlook is bleak. The clients are not dumb; they knew they got to do some form of marketing and advertising to stay in the limelight for consumers not to forget them. However, they will dictate how much they are willing to spend and they will do their best to squeeze as much as possible from their ad agencies or design firms.

So how?

Renegotiate Pricing or Payment Term:

Talk to your current vendors and business associates to request price decreases or a more creative payment scheme. They might not like it but they will understand where you are coming from. Very likely, they are in the same boat as you.

Customer Loyalty Program:

Relationship between clients and agencies are important but if they find your price, they will have to go somewhere cheaper. They will look at you sheepishly and tell you they have “no choice”. If you like to keep your clients,consider creating a customer loyalty program. Write a letter to say you want to retain them as a customer and are now rewarding them with a % off for $x spent. This encourages them to stay with you. The cost of finding a new client is much higher than offer incentive/rebates/discount to keep them.

Competing by price is a no-win game. You cut your price but someone will cut his too. Better if you can offer better service, differentiate your offerings, offer better value and be really nice to them. Of course, you cannot forget to evaluate your client’s willingness to pay for a product or a service. If a majority of your clients’ budget cannot cover your cost, you will have to reevaluate your own business model and strategies

1. Company’s Position – What you want out of the current economic gloom: Ride through the storm? Take advantage of the storm and be stronger ? Take opportunity to strike at competitors? Be nice and be seen as a supportive vendor? .
2. Financial strength - How strong is your cash flow? Do you owe more or people owe you more?
3. Brand positioning - How does your client perceive you? Do they buy repeatedly without prompting? Is your product a must-have product among your niche?
4. Relationships with customers - Do you have a program that serve the customer before, during and after sales? Are they taken care off? Do they think they were taken care of?
5. Distribution leverage
6. Product category in terms of price elasticity
7. Cost cutting advantages available.

Time is hard. However, when we have the resilience to be creative and innovative and be supportive to our client, there will be a solution, somewhere, somehow.