Marketing

Pricing and promotions are tricky to get right during recessions. Lower prices often guarantee only one thing — lower margins. And customers will expect those low prices to remain once the economy recovers. Otherwise, they’ll be looking for new vendors. Yet doing nothing is almost certain to drive business away.

Lowering prices is “the easiest short-term tactic to do to hopefully gain revenue. It’s an easy tactic to do to tell your customers that you’re being responsive to the downturn in economic times. But there’s a huge number of problems with dropping price,” says Wharton marketing professor Eric Bradlow.

So what should small- and medium-sized businesses do?

Learn the best way to handle pricing and promotions in an economic downturn from Knowledge@Wharton, the Wharton School’s online business journal, in this conversation with Wharton marketing professor Eric Bradlow.

 

 Pricing in a Downturn - Eric Bradlow [8:11m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Unfortunately, talent is not enough. Success in the workplace (and in any industry) comes down to successfully communicating your strengths. Forget PR and word-of-mouth, your career (and the success of your “product”) is 100% your responsibility.

There was a fascinating experiment conducted by a team of journalists at the Washington Post. The team set off to find out “Can one of the nation’s great musicians cut through the fog of a D.C. rush hour?” They took Joshua Bell – arguably the most famous living violinist in the world – and placed him in street clothes and a baseball cap within a DC Metro station during the morning commute [see the YouTube video of the Joshua Bell Experiment here] . Bell was also given one of the most expensive violins in the world – one worth millions and normally kept in a museum. He was asked to play some of the finest classical pieces ever written.

And so, as thousands of DC residents passed through the hallowed halls of the L’enfant Plaza Station on their way to work, Joshua Bell played his heart out.

Of course, this story ends with a startling (but not surprising) realization: Over the 43 minutes that he played, only a few people stopped to listen – and most of those who were asked about the music after passing through the hall failed to even notice. Alas, creative talent of the most extraordinary kind will go unnoticed if not communicated properly. Had Joshua Bell been placed next to a sign proclaiming “World Famous Joshua Bell, After Playing for The President Last Night, Plays For You This Morning on a Multi-Million Dollar Violin,” maybe people would have stopped?

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Have you searched on your company’s name or product on Google, Yahoo! or MSN lately? If not, it’s time to do so. In today’s business world your online reputation is just as crucial to your success as any other marketing strategy that you deploy.

What are we talking about? Online Reputation Management or ORM, is the ongoing act of monitoring a brand or name online, proactively protecting the name via online channels, and skillfully counteracting negative online content from parties unrelated to your company. These words can come from several sources, namely blog postings, consumer alert sites, community web postings, even unique websites that were created for the sole purpose of defaming a name or company. read more

This week I’ve been out on the West Coast meeting with various companies, and in nearly every conversation Twitter, the social media site, has come up. No doubt about it — Twitter is one of the hottest social media sites for businesses today.

Invariably, one of the questions I was asked is “what do you write about on Twitter?” So, let me take a shot at answering that question here.

First, you have to remember at all times that Twitter is a “social” media site. One definition of the word social is: “Inclined to seek out or enjoy the company of others; sociable.”

And that guiding principle — of seeking out the company of others and being sociable towards them — should be your umbrella approach. If you are spending most of your time writing about YOU or YOUR OWN BUSINESS — then you’re not being very sociable are you? “Self-centered” does not equal “sociable.” read more

During the holidays, we are bombarded by dozens of pleas for charitable giving.  Especially during a down economy, nonprofits and charitable causes are typically suffering from low response because consumers tend to give when they are not preoccupied with how to pay their mortgages.

But what if you are a small business owner?  Whether it is the holidays or yearround, does your small business give to charity?

I think we can assume that most people and small businesses give charitably out of genuine concern and care.  People like to associate themselves with businesses that support meaningful projects.  It’s makes us feel good.  Thus, the marketing benefit is that this attaches a likability factor to your business.  And, yes, consumers are looking for reasons to like you (because they typically don’t like your prices).

Big companies have long employed charitable giving into their strategy of getting customers to know, like and trust them.  McDonald’s has a long history with Ronald McDonald House Charities and Subway is affiliated with the American Heart Association.  As a father of an adopted daughter, I love Wendy’s because of the Dave Thomas Foundation for Adoption (OK, so it’s their Frosty, too).

How will your business share your success to impact your community and the world?  Recognize the importance of rallying your team behind a passion greater than your organization itself.  Differentiate your organization by focusing on selfless acts of community service.

Here are a few of the most common ways to participate philanthropically: read more

When the Iphone first came out, there was a “honeymoon” period when the product was just so revolutionary that people overlooked simple necessities like good reception. But after a few weeks, reports started coming in about poor reception and frequently dropped calls. Months passed, and then Apple finally came out with version 2.0 of the software. A noticeable feature was “a reduction in lost calls.” Another interesting change in version 2.0 was the icon for the reception indicator itself.  Yes, they fixed the problem, but Apple also wanted people to SEE a visual representation of the difference. So, they made a SLIGHT variation in the way the reception “E” and “3G” indicators look. Most people didn’t notice – but those who were most annoyed with their previous reception probably did.

Just as war-torn countries and embattled companies need to see a fresh face in leadership in order to regain trust, sometimes customers need to see visual change to believe intrinsic change. As leaders of small businesses, we must realize that fundamental improvements are often not enough. To visually communicate a change, we must place ourselves in the shoes of the skeptical. How can you make visual tweaks to embody the changes that are made under the hood in your company?I asked a few seasoned leaders for tips, and they shared a few suggestions: read more

Social Media is a beautiful thing these days. Dozens, if not hundreds, of applications and resources allow anyone, seemingly anywhere in the world, with a connection to the internet to connect…with anyone, seemingly anywhere in the world.

Thousands of consultants, analysts and community managers offer access to social mediaʼs tantalizing powers for you to engage in the online conversation, to listen and talk with your customers and prospects wherever, whenever, the conversation occurs.

The metrics, until very recently, that measured the impact of social media on a business or a brand tended to focus on the metrics that its experts found interesting.

Conversations and comments, links and clicks, the viral spread of a story, views of videos were coin of the realm. Just recently, these metrics have started to include metrics important to their clientsʼ CEOs and CFOs. These are revenues, profits and cash-flows, the ultimate measure of a brandʼs success in making customers happy. I say ultimate, because their performance in delivering a meaningful solution will be ultimately measured in these metrics.

Below, I have listed 4 social media applications that can have a direct affect a companyʼs cash-flows. These are 4 I have used or have seen other companies use to generate a direct and positive affect their cash-flows. And, I discuss, albeit, briefly, why each of these are able to directly affect a companyʼs cash-flows.

Disclaimer: This is the start of the conversation. I am biased. I have not reviewed every possible obscure social media resource. Feel free to help us all and improve this list with suggestions of your own. Small business will drive us out of this recession. So, letʼs help each other.

These 4 social media resources can, should, directly affect your companyʼs cash-flows: read more

1. Call every customer and thank them for the business. Ask if they’re happy with the work you’ve done. Ask if there’s anything you can do to improve. Don’t do the all in one day. Do five a day, with enough energy and time to show that you really mean it.

2. Show up. Show up when you make an appointment, show up at the right conferences. Show up in the local paper, issue press releases.

3. Make time for the first two by immediately ceasing to attend any event designed to connect you with struggling small business people in your community or industry. Stop connecting online or offline with people who whine but never deliver new business. Be ruthless.

4. Offer every one of your employees a huge referral bonus on any friend or acquaintance they bring to your business. Even if you don’t make any money on these first sales, it will create momentum.

5. Start a blog. Use it to tell the truth about your industry. Highlight your competitors who do a great job, expose the pitfalls that uninformed customers often face.

6. Keep a journal. Write down every single thing you do in a day to get new business. Watch the list grow daily. read more