Advertising & Marketing Trends for 2009

Most importantly, don't wait to see if you're affected! It's human nature to avoid confronting bad news and to imagine that today's troubles will pass more quickly and easily than they really will. I recommend that in terms of marketing, assume the opposite: business conditions will be worse than you actually expect. The fact is, businesses all around South Africa are quiet – at least partly because the corporates are so panicked about the “recession” that they have stopped buying anything at all! Facing reality before your competitors do can make a big difference in which of us stays healthy or even who survives. I was in the IT industry in 2001. I learned a lot from that period and I believe the industry emerged the stronger for it. 2009 will reward the quick and the smart, and spell doom for those businesses that are slow to change, or panic and make bad decisions. Of course, the best moves usually take time to implement. If you have no marketing strategy, you haven’t thought which customers might do badly in a recession, if you don’t have a website, or a ready-to-publish portfolio, or a mailing list you are going to have a slow start to your new business programme. Those who have already built a foundation of information and ideas can get off the starting blocks in hours. 6 things to think about right NOW! • Are the priorities you set in 2008 still valid in the face of a different economic outlook? • What are you really good at, what should you outsource or subcontract, what products or services should you stop offering? • Is your industry or customer base panicking – you need to communicate immediately? • Your target market is facing new problems – can you offer new solutions? • Your instinct is to cut prices – is it a practical and valid option? • Your instinct is to fire employees – are you absolutely certain what skills you will need in the months ahead? • If your competitors are failing – how can you draw their lost clientele to your business? Here are marketing trends to watch in 2009. Ad Spend on TV... will decrease. At the moment, the A & B income groups are the ones with discretionary income, and they have PVR decoders, DVD recorders and at least one VCR. They are flipping over the adverts, and it won’t take long before advertisers look at the ratings for mind-bogglingly expense prime time ads and wonder if they are worth it. TV ads are expensive to produce – expect to see more of the dreary “stills” selling ringtones, soap powder and slimming products. Ad spend on the print media ... ...will be stable. Magazines and Newspapers will struggle to maintain subscriptions in a tough economy, increasing their cost per reader rate. Glossy magazine will become more of a luxury for consumers, but trade magazines and niche publications will probably be able to increase their revenue. Local newspapers might see an increase as small local businesses decide to advertise. Ad Spend on radio... ... will increase significantly. Production costs are minimal and I believe many TV advertisers will switch a proportion of their budget to radio. Programs and stations are targeted, and listeners are presented with one topic at a time. With open plan offices, internet radio and 80% of Johannesburg’s freeways under construction, we’ll all be spending more time listening to the radio – even if we are multitasking. Ad spend Online... ... will increase. South Africans can expect to see broadband costs decreasing when the two new undersea cables are completed by 2010. Mobile internet access is growing extending the potential market for online sales especially to business, the black consumers and the youth. This all means new markets and new potential customers – and they have discretionary incomes. The ability to measure ROI and actual readership across digital media will make these channels popular with accountants and executive management. Email Marketing... ...will be used more, and therefore become less effective. It’s cheap, mailing lists are available for a few rand, and there are dozens of software packages to send out junk mail right from your desktop. Companies will get stricter about what email gets through their servers and people will get angry with those companies to keep sending product leaflets after the receiver has unsubscribed. We may even see our first legal cases of those openly flouting the anti-spam ECT Act. Tips: • Set up your website to accept newsletter subscriptions and most importantly, un-subscriptions. This isn’t something a human should handle – they aren’t efficient enough! • Make sure your newsletter are informative and entertaining – not just a catalogue of your own products and press releases. Add some industry news or events. • Keep emailed newsletters small, and allow an option for Plain Text versions. E-commerce... ...will expand. When budgets are tight, the brand marketing budget is often the first under pressure because they are a “cost centre”. Sales are always a profit-centre, and online selling is ideal for expanding into new regions, testing product popularity, and generating traffic in a bricks and mortar store. Graphic websites... ...will decrease. With greater competition and shorter attention spans, websites that focus on Our Management, Our vision, Our Products, Our Factory and Our competitive edge will drift into insignificance. There is not enough content to rank with the search engines, and customers know they are king in this economy. Tip: Use digital media to promote two way communication with your clients Search Engine Optimization... ...is no longer a luxury - Learning search engine optimization or hiring someone who already knows it can be expensive, but once you achieve good rankings, you'll hold those rankings for quite a while. However, remember that good rankings are not equal to good customers – an SEO specialist who gets you noticed and popular by cheating your keywords is not necessarily getting your site seen by the people who matter. Demand for Measurable statistics ... ...will increase. When budgets get tighter and areas are identified to cut costs, marketing will always come under scrutiny. Online campaigns must be tracked so that you know what's working. This allows you to get an even better return on your investment and avoid spending time on things that just aren't working out. Networking websites... ..will build customer loyalty in new ways. If you have a brandname to promote or a specific area of expertise, use your website to establish and build a network. It has the same benefits as any other form of networking but a website can handle it more efficiently and on a larger scale. You’ll set your company up as THE authority in your industry while encouraging the right kind of viewer to visit regularly. Tip: Make your website about more than just your product. Provide informative articles, publicise key events and news in your field. Do it before the competition does. Control over Communication... ...will decrease. Companies will need to watch what is said about them on forums and complaint websites – it’s getting more difficult to hide poor service and mistakes when every angry customer can find a place to air his views. Tip: Don’t try to control comments and discussion about your company - rather engage with the people who're commenting. If customers are complaining, let them do it in YOUR space so you can track it, and respond to it. Customers are hard to find, why not learn more about what they want by listening to them? Cellphones... ...will open up new target markets. South African internet statistics show more than 2 million mobile internet users. This is a massive market, and most websites are not geared for these users. SMS marketing will annoy more people than in 2008, while competitions and downloads will continue to dupe gullible users. Tip: If you are in a “youth” market, consider offering RSS and news feeds for mobile users Make sure your site can be viewed on a mobile phone. Pay Per Click Marketing ... ...will increase. Google’s AdWords are targeted not only by subject, but also by geographic region– you only pay for people who are interested enough to click on your advert. These adverts are also available on Yahoo and Facebook, although the market for these in South Africa is limited. There are also services that manage “Pay per Sale” marketing – you only pay if someone buys your product! Accountants are more likely to approve this form of ad spend over a generic brand advert. Cyber Crime... ...will increase, but users will eventually become more savvy. People will expect to see privacy policies and terms and conditions, and will hesitate to punch their credit card number into a website that is shoddy and unprofessional. They will expect companies to protect their information, and not spam them. Dianne VolekInterComm South AfricaEffective dynamic, graphic & e-commerce websitesEmail: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.Tel: 011 454-2234www.intercomm.co.zaEntrepreneurs & Freelancers: Please see our free Small Business Portal on www.intercommerce.co.za