If this month’s BRW magazine is anything to go by, Australia seems to have missed the recession and is predicted to come out the other side with minimal harm. The US Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke, said, “the prospects for a return to growth in the near term appear good”. Whether Australia has or hasn’t been hit by the GFC (you can make up your own mind on that), one thing is certain; the way that consumers are choosing and responding to brands has changed.
Consumers have been tightening their belts: 57% are trying to reduce personal debt, 47% are saving money, and 79% felt it was a good time to save rather than spend. (The Australian Centre for Retail Sales). Many have been trading down to basic alternatives and at the opposite end of the scale you have luxury brands like Louis Vuitton who have created a basic range to keep sales going. But what will this mean for brands post “the recession”?
This is the optimum time to go back to your business plan and look at your marketing strategy to evaluate what you said you were going to do, what has happened and what you need to change to plan for both changing purchasing patterns now and beyond the recession.
There are 6 stages that you need to work through:
1.Strategic planning stage 1
Evaluate where you are now. This may involve desk or paid for research. What markets are you targeting? Why? Have they changed? Are there markets that have disappeared and new ones that have opened up? How can you segment them, e.g. by demographics, psychographics, behaviours to name a few? What do your customers think about you?
2.Strategic planning stage 2
Decide where you want to go now? What is your vision and mission? What objectives do you want to achieve now? Where? Clarify your target markets?
3.This leads you into Brand Positioning.
Given your findings, you can determine what position you want to own in the marketplace to differentiate yourself from your competition. Perhaps you want to compete geographically, based on customer service, quality or originality of your product or simply price. Competing on price can be the lowest common denominator so beware of jumping to this strategy too soon.
4.Next you need to develop your Marketing Plan (how you’re going to get there).
This can be explained under 7 common headings:
- Product – the physical product/service
- Price – the amount of money needed to purchase the product/service
- Promotion – getting the product known
- Place – where the product can be found
- People – those who represent the business
- Physical Environment – the ambience mood or tone of the environment
- Process – how people obtain your product/service
5.Communication Planning is “Promotion” expanded.
You need to evaluate what your brand looks like to those that you want to buy from you. This is made up of your logo, strapline, signage, advertising, verbal communication (e.g. elevator pitch), and any form of communication that touches both your existing and potential customers. What is your single minded proposition (the one most important thing you want to say)? Does your brand look consistent across every single piece of communication? Where should you communicate with your customers (media)?
6.Measurement
Last but not least, how did your marketing strategy work? You need to evaluate this regularly so that your plan is a living document, whether it is after each piece of activity, quarterly or otherwise. Look at what is working, and keep doing it and alter what is not, so that you are constantly getting a better understanding of what the right marketing mix is for you and a more effective use of your budget. Feed these results back into the next stage of your business and marketing planning process to continue the cycle of planning, implementing and learning.
