If you’re reading this, you’re starting to get worried about your marketing and whether it’s paying off. This is the perfect time to take a step back, assess which marketing activities currently yield the most ROI – then toss the rest! Is that conference becoming a little too pricey for the amount of connections you’re actually making? Skip it this year, and try again next year. Christine Nelson, Lead Communications Consultant here at Ingenuity, shares her expert tips on how to survive a downturn and come out victorious on the other end of the sales cycle.
Questions? Send Christine a message!
Full Video Script
Is your pipeline slow-ish? It happens in every industry at some point. That’s what marketing is for. It is designed to help you win work years from now by maintaining relationships and visibility through the best channels for your market.
And yet, we see AEC firms and other businesses reduce or lay off their marketing and salespeople when the pipeline gets skinny. Marketing and sales lose momentum right when you need it most.
So here’s my advice. Don’t get lean and mean on staffing. It’s hard enough to find good people. Get lean and mean on your strategy.
Rely on the knowledge of your team or consultants to eliminate marketing and sales activities that lack ROI. For example, if an expensive sponsorship or a national conference isn’t drawing in the connections and business like it used to, then skip it or reduce your level of participation.
You can put those extra dollars into something else, such as project videos, a client or project partner engagement strategy. Host your own events!
Forget about the fear of missing out just because every other firm is doing the same old things. Move your budget into earned media and get all eyeballs on the great things you’re doing for your community and on the technological and environmental solutions you deliver better than anyone else.
When firm leaders allow and support innovation in their marketing strategy, they can personalize marketing and avoid the high costs of unproductive activities.
Does this mean that traditions will change? Will some people be disappointed? Yes, potentially. But it also means that you can get unstuck in your pipeline and customize your approach to attract new and better business in the future.
Sacred cows or innovation? Proactive marketing must lean toward innovation to stay relevant across all channels. You may be missing out right now on new digital forms of advertising or the ability to create your own advisory group. If you continue to hang with the same old crowds, then your pool of prospects starts to shrink.
When the pipeline is slow-ish, allow your marketing and sales team to do what they do best…put your firm in front of fresh opportunities for the future.
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