As we rapidly approach March of 2009, what have you done to stay ahead of the recession? How are you shifting your focus, marketing strategies and messaging to adapt to the new state of mind of your customers?

We’re offering up some basic tips on how to market smarter online and in-house:

• Fix the weaknesses. Invest time internally to understanding your weaknesses. Most of the time, when business is good we are too busy to fix those thorns in our sides that often reduce productivity, efficiency and creativity. A great place to start is your Web site. Review Web site statistics to see how people are getting to your site and review your conversion (sales) process online to see if it can be improved with regard to ease-of-use for the user. Understand your Web site’s visibility online, could you be getting streamlining your online efforts to get more targeted traffic and less riffraff?
• Become great at what you are now good at. Don’t change who you are, don’t try to be everything to everyone but focus on your specialty. We always jump at the chance to work with business that have a niche. Niche businesses thrive online because the Internet is the quickest and best way to find a specialty service or unique product. Folks looking for these niche products or services are more likely to engage with you, thus making it more likely to convert them into a sale or customer. The right mix of online marketing strategies coupled with a good online user experience creates a recipe for success.
• Find a way to change your messaging that still coincides with your brand without jeopardizing what you stand for AND find a way to change your messaging that demonstrates to clients the value of your product or service. A niche client of ours was toiling with the idea of adding a less expensive line to her product offering to accommodate for the down economy. Until now she only focused on offering boutique high-end products. In the end she decided this was not best for her company because this was not representative of her brand. She found a way to reach consumers by changing her messaging and providing reasons for why consumers should purchase this type of quality product in a down economy. Sales have continued to increase since November 2008.
• Work with smaller companies who specialize in specific areas like online marketing, specifically PPC management strategies. You’ll find that often times you will get better service, better results, and overall more value from your investment. Understand, especially with PPC management, that this is a “managed media” and not “placed media.” If you are spending less than $100k/month on PPC and your Internet Marketing agency or current service provider is taking a percentage of ad spend then consider that your first red flag. With smaller specialized Internet marketing companies you have a better chance of stretching your dollar and spending less to get more.
• Focus on relationship marketing. First focus on how much you know about your current and past customers. What are their needs and preferences? How can you adjust your product or service to meet their needs now? If you are suffering from a loss of staff, look to initiatives like email marketing, trigger emails and personalized (yet automated) customer service strategies to make a one-to-one connection with your customers. Invest in reviewing your site statistics to gain a basic understanding of what is and isn’t working so that you can make adjustments that will capture the right customer.
• Be innovative. “Why did so many great companies and products come from the Great Depression? While there’s no question that a bad economy makes it tougher to raise capital and launch new products, the reality is that good ideas executed well always have room to succeed. A different way to look at it, a shrinking wallet means that more attention is given to every purchase, and therefore the best customer value equation have a better chance of success during a downturn.” – Idris Mootee, FutureLab Read the post by FutureLab here.

Ah, the beloved Stat Pack from Adage – highly entertaining and somewhat useful. I look forward to this summary booklet every year.

A few highlights:

• In the words of Iron Chef – Google reigns supreme with 63% of the search market share. No surprises there.
• 11.8 billion searches performed in August 2008 (19.6% increase over August 2007, U.S. Searches)
• 82 billion worldwide searches (August 2008)
• 1 word and 2 word search queries decreased, while increases were seen in 3-8 word searches (amazing, 8 word searches); majority of search queries are 2 and 3 words
• Search engines referring traffic to retail sites, both paid and natural, resulted in a 3% immediate conversion across the board on the big 3 (Google, Yahoo!, MSN), MSN’s paid search resulted in a 4% conversion

Read the full booklet here for more details regarding specific industry trends, local, and mobile search:
http://adage.com/datacenter/article?article_id=132046

Performics says “Discovery, Differentiation and Discounts Drive Online and Offline Holiday Shoppers to Search” and their new consumer research analyzes consumer shopping behavior and media consumption across seven consumer segments and nine vertical product categories.

In collaboration with ROI Research, Performics released survey results of 7,043 consumers on how search engines play a role in their purchasing decisions, seven demographic audience segments were questioned across nine different verticals.

Michael Kahn of Performic makes a key statement, “Consumers turn to search for different reasons, online strategies from one marketer to the next can look like night and day depending on the verticals and target segments each needs to navigate. In some cases, consumers use search to buy; in others, it’s a research tool, often used to find offline retail locations.”

Key differences across demographic segments were identified in how search is used in the purchase process, a few of these findings can be found below:

• 81 percent of silver surfers (65 years and older) spend at least an hour/day on the Internet, utilizing search to find best prices and product information, but typically buying offline
• 89 percent of African-Americans spend at least an hour/day on the Internet, most often using search to find offline locations, especially for automotive and electronic purchases
• Baby boomers used search more than 75 percent of the time when purchasing automobiles, appliance and electronics
• Gays/lesbians, who reported more overall shopping than other demographic segments in nearly every product category, used search most often to shop for automotive, appliance and electronic products and services

This online vs. offline dynamic emerged as a key theme. Some interesting findings include:

• Travel reigned as the top online product category, with 70 percent of respondents reporting making their last Travel purchase online
• Health care was the most dominant offline category, with 81 percent of consumers indicating their last purchase happened offline; yet 90 percent of respondents used search to research these purchases
• Use of search was split almost evenly across the seven segments for telecommunication purchases, and 39 percent made their purchases online
• Tweens were most likely to purchase apparel and electronics, but despite the notion that Tweens often “live” online, most make and recommend purchases offline

Liberty Interactive Marketing: We say that all advertising, on and offline works together.  Among all the clutter and the competition, you must be present online and ahead of your competition.  It does not necessarily mean having to spend more (although that does help), but in this economy it may make better sense to know who your customers are so that you can be there at the right time and the right place. It can be as simple as utilizing all resources online to make sure every brick and mortar location can be found easily online with an address, map, and phone number.  That your site is programmed efficiently for mobile accessibility. That your web site has an appropriate customer experience, in which consumers are able to access many different levels of information quickly and easily. Additionally important, is your visibility online within search engines and various shopping sites.  Can consumers find you, your products, and the information they need to make a purchase in-store or online? If they can’t, your competition is just one click away or up the street. What are you doing to keep the focus on you, to solidify the purchase process with every prospective customer?

Performics and ROI Research sought to gain a deeper understanding of the influence of search on consumer purchasing behavior including how frequently consumers use search to gather product information, compare prices, and look for specific brands or retailers. The study also tracked key demographics such as income, education and media consumption patterns. Read the full release here.