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This Week's Marketing How-To

How to Measure the Effectiveness of Your Company Blog

By Mack Collier. By examining several of the blogging metrics available, we can tie each one to a specific goal for your blogging efforts. Get the full story >

Case Study

How a Digital Input Device Manufacturer Increased Engagement With Customers, Upped Holiday Sales

Company: Wacom Technology Corp.
Location: Vancouver, Wash.
Industry: Retail, B2B, B2C
Get the full story >
This Week's Top Articles

Sculpting your Site's PageRank Can Help Your Search Engine Rankings
By Stephan Spencer. If you are considering your options for getting a jump on your competitors in the search results, take a closer look at PageRank sculpting. Get the full story >

Increase Your Email Campaign's Power to Persuade: Move, Motivate, and Entice
By Kimberly Snyder. In the inbox, you must fight for your open. Win the battle by effectively optimizing four straightforward email marketing elements. Get the full story >

MarketingProfs Podcast: Arguing SEO Tactics and Keeping Your Living Room Clean
By John Wall and Christopher Penn. Today: SEO tactics that may (or may not) be Black Hat, and how to deliver a dope smack to commenters who don't add to the conversation. Get the full story >

Make Your Marketing Budget Work—Halve It
By Martin Lindstrom. Here are some ideas to kick-start a new, fresh approach to selling your brand. Get the full story >

MarketingProfs Online Seminars

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March 27

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A Note to Readers
from Ann Handley
Chief Content Officer

Recession? It's a Great Time to Be a Marketer!

The massive bailout of Bear Stearns could be the first of a wave of financial rescues. US housing is overpriced. Retail sales are in the dumps. And the consumer-spending binge is over.

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"In short,” writes Jack Neff in yesterday's Ad Age, "it's a great time to be in marketing."

In fact, previous recessions have been very, very good for marketing, spawning (among other things) soap operas, modern cable networks, airline loyalty programs, the iPod, Crest Whitestrips, Axe body spray and lots more, Neff says.

In other words, relax – it's not so bad. Breathe in. Breathe out. And then consider these guidelines for marketing in a down economy:

Don't cut the budget. Assuming you can still afford it, "recessions offer what may be unprecedented opportunities to market in an environment of relatively less noise as others cut back," Neff says.
Maintain strong launches. Some things really are recession-proof.Even in the deepest, darkest recessions, "things that truly appeal to consumers, be they soap operas, CNN or disposable training pants, still flourished," Neff writes.
Get a little silly. "You can't go wrong with diversion: Media, entertainment and other forms of cheap frivolity can be the bread-and-circus salve for hard times -- from the soap operas of the 1930s to MTV in the 1980s to [in 2002] the iPod and Axe body spray."
Beware the slash and burn. Keep your prices up, unless you have a good reason not to (like a one-time event to move inventory or similar). "Unless the price reduction is truly strategic -- e.g., a discount retailer or brokerage or a one-time event to drive traffic -- you could live to regret it," he says.
You might as well dance. "Some of the most successful recession-era launches were natural offshoots of the conditions created by or causing the crisis, i.e. high gas prices spawning fuel-efficient cars [or] interest bearing checking accounts that sprang from high interest rates in the 1970s and '80s," according to Neff.

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