DIGITAL MEDIA STRATEGIES DENISE GROTHOUSE Marketing Strategies for Infl ationary Times AS INTEREST RATES rise, an econom-ic downturn is on the mind of our industry. After a period of price increases, executives are looking for alternate methods to maintain pro t margins. A re ned focus on advertising and marketing strategies can provide long-term savings that fall right to your bottom line. The th Century retailer, John Wanamaker, famously stated, “Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is, I don’t know which half.” Data and analytics can challenge the status quo, revealing which areas should get more or less of the budget. RESIST CUTTING BUDGETS The reality is that a business must understand the results of advertising and marketing cam-paigns, and focus on the lucrative initiatives all the time. Instead of cutting costs by slash-ing budgets by a xed percentage, delve into the metrics with an educational mindset. CHECKLIST: □ How do customers nd you? □ What search engine platform is most lucra-tive in converting paid advertising leads? □ What social media platforms provide sales conversions? □ What print publications provide the most exposure to your target customers? □ What email topics provide the most engagement? RAMP UP THE METHODS THAT WORK Every business has success stories. Pour more energy into the initiatives that have worked in the past and reduce other practices that are speculative or non-performing. Reward custom-ers for buying more instead of putting in place across-the-board reductions or price increases. Loyalty goes a long way during di cult times. O er your best customers selective incentives to keep them returning. “ Companies that have bounced back most strongly from previous recessions usually did not cut their marketing spend. ” The rst step is to put on your CFO and CMO hat and see where the ideal results reside. Focus more narrowly on the most pro table segments of your e orts. If costs are still a con-cern, a business can look to reduce advertising frequency for a period of time, but should not cease marketing and advertising. Companies that have bounced back most strongly from previous recessions usually did not cut their marketing spend, and in many cases actually increased it. START WITH A REVIEW The most important question you can ask customers is, “How did you nd us?” Gathering information provides the guidance for where marketing and advertising dollars should be spent. Consider the total investment of manage-ment, time and dollars spent. Armed with that information, look at all aspects of your market-ing costs with a detailed review of the time and money spent on each initiative. Delve into the details at a granular level; for example, you may nd digital advertising on Bing search engines brings more quali ed customers than Google. Are your ideal clients primarily on Instagram or LinkedIn? What email topics garner the most attention? TRADE SHOWS Trade show success rates can vary greatly depending on their location and size. Calculate the number of successful clients reaped from the show multiplied by their sales. Does the cost versus bene t justify the show? Would you be better served ying target clients in for a site visit and a memorable one-on one experience? Would you be better served in an alternative booth size or booth placement? Can you partner with other exhibitors and share in the expense? Does the geographical location of the show impact your success? Are trade shows too important for your brand to miss out? Take a long, hard look at the reason you participate and the results. CHECKLIST: and Instagram) is updating their focus feed to fa-vor video and “Reels” to counteract the audience they are losing to TikTok. At the Meta second quarter shareholder meeting, it was announced that the user feeds will now be including % new people to users’ feeds (not just people you currently follow). The percentage will increase up to % throughout the balance of . By simply posting video on Meta, you open up to a new audience – free of charge. If you are gaining quality customers via Instagram and Facebook, your videos put you in a good position to increase your brand visibility and sales. For the manufacturing industry that relies on sales representatives to introduce new products or programs, reinforcing sales reps’ messag-ing with social media posts and email updates is a win-win for all. Take time to review your audiences for Meta advertising to further re ne your demographic settings. This will ensure the spend is hitting the audiences that respond to your posting. LinkedIn is known for its “golden hour” – the rst hour a post is visible. The engagement of a post in the rst hour has a notable e ect on the e ectiveness of the post thereafter. By encouraging interaction in the rst hour, you gain tremendous momentum. Providing content that is valuable to LinkedIn and keeps members on the site is also rewarded. Consider writing a LinkedIn newsletter to expand your visibility. So, what’s the di erence between an article and a LinkedIn newsletter? The main di erence is, when you publish an article, it goes into your timeline. Your con-nections only discover it by scrolling through their feed. When you publish a newsletter, your subscribers get noti ed, which increases the chances of people seeing and consuming your content. Best of all, it is a free service on LinkedIn! CHECKLIST: □ Calculate booth visitors by geography of show. □ Calculate booth visitors by in-show booth placement. □ Calculate conversion rate and value of conversion. □ Focus on social platforms that have your customers attention. □ Review the audiences on Meta to target the successful demographic. □ Create videos for Meta platforms. □ Share new items and company noti cations on all platforms. □ Create LinkedIn newsletters. SOCIAL MEDIA Evaluate your social media e orts to under-stand where your main target audience primar-ily interacts. Social media platforms can get tricky due to the extensive algorithmic changes that have taken place in . Meta (Facebook PRINT ADVERTISING Reading a magazine is a di erent experience from digital, website and social. Nothing beats a cup of co ee in the morning and the tactile experience of turning the pages. Magazine sub-scriptions provide staying power for your brand in a unique way on co ee tables and in waiting 26 Kitchen & Bath Design News • October 2022
Kitchen & Bath Design News October 2022: Page 26
