1. Grow Your Marketshare: No better time than now to grow your share of the pie. Yes, the pie may be somewhat smaller during an economic downturn but you want to be prepared for growing revenues when things return to some level of normalcy. Weak competitors are opening themselves for attack; consumers are looking for brand value and are more open minded to changing brand preferences. This is also a very good time to develop new media relationships with outlets that are hungry to grow their own share.
2. Adjust Your Media-Mix: So, we all know consumer habits are changing rapidly but how much are you adjusting your media spend? I’m not going to attempt to quantify all the statistics that are flying around these days, but we all know that newspaper readership is getting hammered, online usage is sky-rocketing  and that broadcast viewership is more fragmented than ever before. I am not recommending that you drop all print and put 80% of your budget online but you should be shifting your budgets somewhat to take advantage of the shifting landscape.
3. Go Social, But Carefully: Everyone is jumping on the social networking bandwagon so quickly that few have taken the time to look at the entire realm of opportunities and potential land mines. Others are slashing traditional budgets and going totally online. I actually had a client tell me last year they were eliminating everything from their budget in 2010 except interactive and was planning on slashing 80% of their budget. Developing a social marketing plan is not about throwing thirty grand at your secretary’s nephew “who lives online”, it’s about developing a sound strategic plan that is flexible enough to accommodate ever-changing trends.
4. Beware Of The Blue Box: At our agency, we define a “blue box”, as a young, college educated person that has been out in the real world for less than five or six years. They have earned a certain level of respect from management and claim to know everything on earth about marketing. They wake up one day and all of a sudden they are provided the title of marketing director even though most do not have any formal marketing education. Hundreds of millions of dollars are being put in these people hands without thinking about it. The next thing you know is, this young mad scientist is firing marketing firms, reallocating budgets and putting new spins on brands that have taken decades to build. Whose hands are you going to put the future of your company in?
5. Shout From The Valley And Whisper From The Mountaintop: Never underestimate the power or the value of a well designed public relations plan. If your company is somewhere down towards the bottom of your category’s totem pole, then shout as loud as you can if you truly have worthy story. If you stand firmly at the top of the totem pole than be humble because everyone is looking for to knock you off, especially the news media. That doesn’t mean you should be quiet by any means, just very calculating in your messaging.
6. Don’t Look Desperate: Sales might be down to where they were a few years ago and your lenders are getting itchy but by no means should you ever show desperation in your marketing efforts. You can market value without throwing years of brand equity out the window. If you drop give it away today, or evgen appear to be, it will take you years to regain consumer confidence.
7. Print Is Not Dead. Yet: There are still millions of people who begin each day with the morning newspaper especially within older demographics and more affluent. Most consumer magazines are holding their own because people have a personal relationship with publications that are connected to through a passion for a typical hobby, lifestyle or interest. Use print to your advantage to target consumers who have a strong likelihood to use your product or service and don’t be afraid to use shrinking ad pages as leverage in your negotiations.
8. Integrate, Integrate, Integrate: There are still way too many silos within corporate marketing departments around the globe. We have seen many fortune 500 companies where the marketing message is so fragmented between traditional, interactive and public relations it would make your head spin. Tell everyone to leave the egos at the door and appoint a brand “czar” that you can hold responsible for all marketing communications…and tell the IT department that the internet is not their domain.
9. Trust Your Agency Or Find Another One: You hired an agency or integrated marketing firm to look after your best interest, let them do their job. Don’t play budget games and please disclose all short- and long-term company initiatives to the agency early in the game, not after they hear it from another source. If your agency is not doing the job you expect, tell them about it immediately and honestly. You might be surprised at the attention you receive.
10. Zag: Take a step back and look at your category with fresh eyes. Are all your competitors saying the same thing in a similar manner? If so, the opportunities are there to make a name for yourself and stand out in the eyes of your customers and prospects. If you are not receiving comments about your marketing efforts from your contacts then you are probably just blending in with everyone else. Claim your position and stick with it across all tactics.

Have a prosperous New Year!

Posted by: Joe Takach, CEO, Meridian Group