As news of a global economic downturn worsens, what are you doing to get your business ready? Do you have a strategy to increase sales while, at the same time, maximizing the effectiveness of your marketing dollars?

Perhaps you’ve heard the new buzzword to describe the global financial situation: The Crisis Economy. Growth is slowing down, sales across the globe are decreasing and consumer confidence is falling.

A doomsday scenario? It doesn’t have to be!

Those businesses which are now wisely investing in a sound strategy will emerge on the other side of this downturn leaner and more profitable. Now is the time to re-think your plan and create a “zero-based” strategy for your company.

Allow me to provide some definitions. “Zero-based” refers to the new approach to budgeting – traditionally, managers only have to justify the new money they request; it is assumed the amount of money from last year is already approved. With the “zero-based” approach, managers must start from scratch (or, start from zero dollars) and justify the entirety of their budget.

The same applies to your marketing strategy. It’s not enough to just look at last year’s strategy and think ‘OK, we’ll do basically the same and maybe change one or two things”. You must start from zero, start fresh. The marketplace has changed, your consumers have changed and you cannot rely on an outdated strategy.

Author: James Runkle
Owner and Founder
Drummond St. Strategy