Marketing in a Downturn

With almost daily reminders in the media that the global economy is heading south, many companies are naturally looking for ways to tighten their belts. The marketing budget is usually one of the first victims in most cost-cutting exercises.

An Economist article - Perfecting Pitches - examines how some larger firms are likely to modify their marketing spend. One prediction is that advertisers will become more selective about the channels they use to communicate with customers, with firms likely to commit more resources to online initiatives.

Well-executed Internet advertising allows firms to easily address sharply-focussed market segments and its effectiveness can be far more accurately measured than mass-media campaigns. This is precisely why small businesses, which cannot match the Olympics-sized marketing budgets of the likes of Coca-Cola anyway, should also place the Internet at the heart of their marketing efforts.

Another interesting article - Are Olympics Sponsorships Worth It? - from BusinessWeek reports that many long-time sponsors of the Olympics are re-examining their marketing strategies amid research that suggests few consumers even notice who is backing the Games. Clearly the golden age of intrusion marketing is over. Marketers will have to find more targeted and personalized methods of leveraging on the Olympic spirit going forward.