With the economy slowing down, there has been cuts in terms of spending across all functions. Marketing typically happens to be one of the first ones to receive a budget cut, for reasons beyond my comprehension. Slowdown or no slowdown, these in my mind are things that every B2B marketer should know and should implement, not in any particular order.

1. TV and outdoor advertising spend needs to be curbed; if not, it can be completely cut-down
2. Direct mailers in a vaccum will most likely fail, unless it acts as a lead-in into something more comprehensive
3. Many a marketer’s to-do list looks like a chinese menu; bring it to something like a specialist chef’s menu and focus on them
4. Direct sales and tradeshows will still continue to remain the best demand generation tool
5. Increase your spend on emails and that is bound to get you better results
6. Get creative, history may not repeat itself in B2B scenarios. What worked last year or in the last three years are most likely not going to give you the results that you desire
7. Spend smarter all the time, not just when the budgets are low. Identify the target segment for each of your service/product and do targeted messaging to them. Idea is to get them as leads, come what may
8. Perception is key. Ensure that it is maintained by not completely removing your marketing budgets
9. Marketing definitely is not a spend and is an investement. Once the ‘I’ in ROI is known, you can go ahead and ensure postive ROI on every activity that you perform; else discard them
10. Telemarketing - many would dismiss this off straightaway and this you would do only at your own peril. At the end of the day, telemarketing is probably the easiest way by which you can make your marketing message be heard by the right person and hopefully with the right impact. Isn’t this the dream of every marketer?

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