Money’s tough, customers are tough, the free ad papers are gone, and the thought for the day asks, where to now? Consumers traditionally spend a lot of money during the summer months: they’ve usually spent six months saving for it. Business spend is traditionally at its lowest during those months.
Business plans can only be designed when there is tangible evidence to base them on. Whilst basing business plans on dreams is better than not writing them at all, some path to the future is a must for feasible plans.
But declining business offers lousy evidence as a route to the future. The decline of the free ad papers is demonstration enough that there is no confidence in mainstream advertising, and that it provides little value. If you have no one specific to market to, then you can only market to a mass audience. But no one is listening.
Shopkeepers standing outside shops watching passers by, offers little inspiration. Consumers carrying little more than their handbags are becoming an increasingly normal sight.
But if no one else is advertising, does that not mean you have the world to market to? You, alone, pressing on? And with the media so desperate for cash, great deals are there to be done. We know that they’ll do deals for virtually nothing, just to keep the game alive.
Marketing Week in London was particularly busy this year. Was that because everyone has nothing better to do? Or were they desperate for ideas?
With the right communications, a recessionary summer is an excellent time for promotion to people who have little else to listen to.
Contact Chalestra to start developing your sales pitches.