marketing in the 'credit crunch'?

As we approach December businesses will be winding down towards Christmas and maybe assessing the year gone by and thinking about making fresh marketing resolutions for the New Year. All this with depressing forebodings about how the credit crunch is likely to affect us all - tightening belts, cutting back on all spending. Traditionally marketing has been the first target for cut backs - even though most people know it's a 'chicken and egg' situation - to keep going, new business development cannot be allowed to stagnate.
There is much a business can do for themselves simply by having a marketing plan and working through it in a structured way at a pace that they can manage and maintain.
A design and marketing consultancy like Primary can help put such a plan together and provide the tools to implement it.
My first piece of advice is this - whatever is done should somehow be geared to collecting email addresses from all clients, potenital clients and targets so that a comprehensive database can be achieved. A small promotion may need to be put togther to achieve just that if email details have not already been sourced. Every promotional item used should be examined to see if maximum benefit is being gained from it in terms of data-gathering - whether that is confirmed contact details or simply feedback from clients on standards of products or services and user experiences.
Once the database is in place we can then work on segmenting the market and designing emailshots to each potential client that highlights u.s.p.'s and answers their needs. Emailshot campaigns can be closely monitored and results assessed. Regular contact with existing clients can be maintained with well-designed and informative e-newsletters.
As with all marketing, presentation is key. Brand image should be strong and consistent and concepts should be original, thought-provoking and clearly promote the u.s.p.'s of the business.
Where can you find all this expertise? Take a look at www.primarygraphics.co.uk - and start the new year with great design that works hard and gets results!