Tips, tools, and best practices for B2B marketers.

Tis’ the season to be thankful

December 12, 2008 | Posted by: Neil

Recessions and Depressions. Doom and Gloom. If you listen long enough you'll be convinced that the sky is falling. But lets stop for a moment to think about what we have to be thankful for this year as marketers:

1. Hustle, Sweat and Elbow Grease- 50 years ago, or even 10,  marketing efforts relied heavily on who could spend the most. Without a budget, marketing was nearly impossible.  Fast forward to 2009, a year when budgets will be tight; but big budgets are no longer a precursor to success. Social media, community and the web as a whole have evened the playing field. So throw on the ol' working boots start leveraging your marketing "sweat equity".  Or as Gary V puts it, get out there and hustle. (Worth a watch, seriously.)
   
2. Your visitors - Take a look at your site stats; every day visitors are hitting your site. My guess is that if these visitors had literally no budget they would find a more entertaining site on which to spend their time (laughing babies anyone?).  Smaller budgets doesn't necessarily equate to no spending, but it will mean they will research the heck out of every dollar they spend. So help those visitors on your site find the content they need to be convinced that that your product or service is worth a piece of their slimmed down budget. Focus on increasing conversion rate, optimizing the buying funnel and you may find that you can counteract the downturn in visitors by optimizing those who do come. The Future Now guys have a great case study example that is worth a read.
3. Opportunity- It has been said that more millionaires were created during the great depression than during any other time in history. Forbes says 10 million new millionaires will be created by 2016.  A bad economy can cause a number of businesses to fail, but it seems that it also gives a select few an unmatched opportunity to succeed. The price of goods and interest rates are low, and great employees can be found at a discount, and the web has created a sea of opportunities that can be capitalized on without ever leaving your desk. I can't say for sure, but I'd be willing to bet that all those depression-era millionaires spent a whole lot more time looking for opportunity than they did search for reasons why the sky was going to fall.
   

I'm thankful for the opportunity. Thankful for my clients. And thankful for ability to work just a bit harder. What about you, what are you thankful for?