Marketing in Tough Times - 20 No-Cost Ideas

[savio13]

TOUGH TIMES NEVER LAST (BUT RESOURCEFUL MARKETERS DO)
Unless you’ve been ignoring all media you’re probably painfully aware that pundits and experts alike are predicting a long recession, many saying it will last through 2009 and likely beyond.
But it’s no time to panic or pull back on marketing. In fact, marketing is more important than ever. Mark-Hans Richer,
chief marketing officer for Harley Davidson, put it this way:
“Our belief is that spending through a market downturn creates a competitive advantage for the market upturn, and an extra dollar spent today has extra dividends for tomorrow.”
And he’s not the only one preaching the value of marketing during a downturn, just Google it for more examples.
But they’re talking about spending money, money you don’t have because of vanishing customers and budget cuts by clueless management.
Fortunately, there are many inexpensive ways to market. Even better, many of them are made easier by the Internet.
Here are twenty no-cost ideas to help you engage existing customers and prospects and spread the word on your
product or service. They range from basic tactics to high level strategies, but what they all have in common is that the only cost to implement them is time and effort.
And remember, tough times never last, but tough (and resourceful) marketers do.