How Should Marketing Departments Deal With Budget Cutbacks In 2011?

2011 is already bringing with it greater financial headaches for businesses, with the world economy set to struggle even with a recuperation for some countries.

In these circumstances it is frequently the marketing department budget that gets hit initially, and according to a IPA/BDO Bellwether survey marketing budgets have fallen by 5.4% ahead of 2011, giving cause for concern for what lies ahead.

So where should you seek to invest on marketing and where should you cut back in order to stabilise the books? Let's look into the alternative media and see where you will find marketing possibilities in 2011.

Television

TV advertising took something of a battering at the conclusion of the last decade, and the explosion in internet marketing and increase in channels thanks to the rise of digital TV meant that a great number of traditional names, including ITV in the UK, were struggling to find ad revenue.

For those that can afford it on the other hand, it can still bring big returns, even for online companies. In spite of the increase in the amount of channels, there are still some big audiences to be had and in the UK big Saturday evening programmes are being used as platforms to launch new campaigns, much as the Superbowl is in the United states.

The viral nature of digital advertising is seeping through to tv, where advertisements with a strong brand message are giving way to those featuring loveable characters and humorous incidents to make them more memorable, leading to something of a resurgence in tv advertising as we enter a new decade.

It is not for everybody, but for those who can afford it there are still some large gains to be made from promoting your wares on the TV.

Marketing Online

Internet advertising is a dream for those marketing departments that have suffered cutbacks, with a whole world of affordable and effective possibilities to choose from through the web. There are plenty of routes for businesses to uncover, from developing advertisements through YouTube to enhancing your presence through social media, utilizing the search engines with an SEO programme and starting a web based PR initiative.

It has already led to businesses leaving other more established varieties of marketing and the huge potential coupled with a reduced cost makes for an appetising strategy for marketing departments who are guarding the pennies.

Newspaper Advertising

From the new boy in town we come to one of the oldest forms of advertising and the one that is suffering the most as a result of changes in technology. Circulation numbers are down across the board and those who were once willing to pay big cash for advertising space are now deciding to implement different avenues that carry a lower cost and higher Return on investment. It seems set to get worse in the year, with lower marketing budgets making this staple of the marketing arena appear very unappealing, and making use of a successful PR strategy to acquire column inches without the outlay could prove to be a more effective way of using the newspapers with a smaller spending budget.

Brand Awareness

The concept of having a powerful brand is still as crucial as ever, and in spite of the viral dynamic of commercials taking the strength of the brand out of the advertising, it is still important to sustain a memorable brand if the campaign is going to achieve success. There is no point in commissioning a fancy advertisement if nobody is going to remember who it is promoting, and getting people to remember and interact with the company is essential if gross sales are going to rise.

Using orbital strategies to enhance the brand and get people interacting with the company are essential if potential customers are going to choose to spend their money. Utilise social networks to speak to customers and corporate gifts to give them a physical attachment to your campaign and you will go a long way in the direction of improving conversions.

This year looks set to be another difficult year, but for the clever marketer there are always possibilities out there. Look carefully at your marketing plan to determine how you can squeeze the very most out of what you have and make this year as successful as it can be.