Namrata Kath Hazarika | 27 Jun, 2009
Today when the market is hit hard by financial crisis, entrepreneurs are fearing to implement good marketing strategies, observed experts.

Experts believe that when the global crisis was steaming up in the last fiscal, industry players  became reluctant in their spending particularly in business promotion activities, which further restrained revamping existing marketing ideas or developing new ones.

Deepak Tandon, Professor, IILM Institute for Higher Education said, "The worst thing that entreprenuers have done is to rein their expenses on marketing which is a sure shot way of missing a grand opportunity to connect with customers in the midst of the economic slowdown."

"It has been said that recessionary times are the most opportune times for marketing teams for investing more efforts and energy. Companies should maintain and increase their marketing efforts in recessionary times." he added.

Mandeep Singh, a marketing professional said, "Good marketing strategies exists in the present scenario but the important aspect is adaptability & dynamism. Marketing people need to re-skill and get close to customers to build powerful insights. Accordingly, they need to create UBP (Unique Buying Proposition) inducing customers, which will be helpful in the present economic downturn."

Singh do not feel that there is a "lack of marketing skills at present but few marketeers have become dogmatic in their approach. Marketeers are still going by the old mind sets. But, we cannot generalize the statement. There are organizations exhibiting formidable marketing acumen. In this highly dynamic marketing environment, marketing brains need to attune their marketing strategies as per as the prevailing financial crisis. They need to build fresh insights."

There has been cut in marketing spends due to the financial crisis. Stating this he further said, "There should be no cost cutting in marketing. Instead there should be effective cost management & cost rationalization. In boom, one needs to spend just to sustain brands but in downturn one needs to be more careful due to twists & turns. It is important to differentiate between "Must Do" and "Nice to Do" costs. Further, companies should operate in real time."

However, many entrepreneurs are of the opinion that they are waiting for the economy to stabilize so that they can take initiatives for promoting their brand or developing new marketing concepts. They feel that spending lavishly on marketing is unaffordable in the midst of a financial crisis.

When asked about good marketing strategies, Singh said, "There is no one definition of marketing. It is all about getting close to the customer. Today customer has choices available. Key aspect is that how different is your company from others. Sales is all about "share of wallet", marketing is about "share of mind."

He also said, "Marketing is also about creating value. Another key shift in paradigm is that the word "USP" is dead. There is little/no selling proposition in buyers' market. It has been replaced by the word "UBP" i.e. Unique Buying Proposition."

UBP is all about the buyer and what the buyer will gain from doing business with a particular company. The aim of marketing is to communicate and get close to the target audience (TA), he added.

Nonetheless, the order of the day is to think innovative as per as marketing is concerned. Singh further added, "Innovation is a key in downturn. Innovative products, solutions, features & applications become key differentiators when going gets tough. They helps in value creation too. For instance, Nokia innovates a new model every 4-6 months & makes some model redundant. The new model speaks of innovation in applications & features. No wonder, Nokia is far ahead in race in highly crowded & competitive mobile market."

Enumerating his views in this regard Tandon said, "Even the nationalized banks in India usually revamp their marketing strategies such as new logos, fresh approach and incessant television spots.

"In such type of tough circumstances, money needs to be invested wisely. In fact, implementing new creative ideas, better ways of reaching out and establishing a bond with customers will always work well," he added.