You smell that? Of course you do. You’re being polite and trying not to notice, but the air around us has undoubtedly been infused with a funk. Shoulders are slouched, the urge to look over your shoulder is at an all-time high, and many are hoping to forgo the possibility of building for simply maintaining. Recessions have a way of doing that, especially when they come in the super-sized variety.
Clearly, these are difficult times for any marketer. Customers are spending less, replacing less frequently, and substituting goods and services. Many companies are cutting marketing budgets and reducing expenses everywhere they can.
But for the savvy marketer, this is also a great time to take advantage of current market conditions and refine your marketing approach. Here are a few principles that can help:
Focus
Enhance
Increase
Resist
These methods have been successful for some. But what’s worked for you? Share your thoughts in the comments, below.
With some recession doom and gloom still lingering on the cusp of the summer travel season, the state of the travel industry continues to be a hot topic of conversation. For every good news story, five bad ones seem to always follow. But you should fear not. Travelers are still traveling – just rethinking their approach – and your avid deal hunters are feasting on the buffet of bargains oozing out from every direction. Good news is, those deals aren’t hard to find, thanks to some savvy marketers finding new ways to engage.
Over the past few months, an influx of travel industry entities have jumped on the Twitter train. Resorts, hotels, CVBs, airlines, and even travel mags. One great example is Hyatt Hotels & Resorts, a notable brand that recently launched a Twitter account – @HyattConcierge. It offers 24/7 assistance with any travel questions and requests before, during and after your stay. Smart. On the flipside, @DealsOnTravel is answering the call for what most travelers are looking for online right now.
In the meantime, Twitter has also become the premier forum for a little ethnographic experimentation. Quite a few travel entities are toggling their microblogs between deals, customer service and brand-building tweets – as they actively figure out how they want to/should use this tool. Why not? These are new, uncharted waters for some, and a little testing helps to distill social strategy. So as we continue the climb out of the deep, dark recession abyss, be watching as the travel industry’s finds even more footing with the use of social media.
In the meantime, though, keep those deals coming.
Gary S