Modern B2B Blogs

Sign of the Times: Marketing in a Recession

By Jon Miller on November 14, 2008

Now that we are officially in a recession (at least in most states), it seems like more and more marketers are looking for tips and ideas about how to adjust their practices given the macro-economic conditions.

For the past two months, the number one post on my blog has been "7 Strategies for B2B Marketing during a Recession: The Definitive Guide".  Originally published in June, what's really dramatic is how quickly it's ramped up since September when the crisis really took hold. Take a look at the Google Analytics report:

Put another way, that's a 1,300% increase in searches, clicks, and page views on that topic in just seven weeks, and yet another way, each and every day more than 35 people are typing "marketing in a recession" into Google and clicking through to read that blog post.  (And, when they get there, they are really spending time reading it, spending almost four and half minutes on average on the page.)

What does all this mean? It means that now, more than ever, marketers need to:

• Maximize conversion of their advertising dollars into prospects by optimizing their landing pages.
• Stop wasting leads that aren't yet sales ready and start using lead nurturing to build relationships so that when they are ready to buy, you'll be positioned to win. In a recession, new prospects are less likely to be looking to purchase right away — which means they are less likely to want to talk to a sales rep. Lead nurturing is even more critical in a recession to ensure you convert the precious dollars you spend acquiring prospects into revenue.
• Use lead scoring to identify the best leads and help the sales team prioritize where they spend their time
• Prove the impact their marketing activities have on revenue and pipeline

Do you have any additional tips for marketing in a recession If so, please share!