There aren’t many positives about doing business in a challenging economy. Business is tough, cash-flow is tight, and consumers rein in spending. Thus many business leaders react accordingly. Anticipating reduced sales, they cut back on variable costs, including marketing, in order to deliver on their financial expectations. It’s indeed expected that when business slows, you have to cut costs. But is marketing simply another expense, or is it an investment? Ask yourself this: if you stop marketing, how will you […]
Category Archives: Economy
Aug
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Apr
6
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4 strategies for marketing in a challenging economy
In a challenging economy, consumers become value oriented, set stricter priorities, and reduce their spending. Although it’s wise to contain costs, this is not the time for your organization to stop spending on marketing. Rather it’s the time to put customer needs under the microscope to understand how they have changed, and nimbly adjust your strategies, tactics, and product offerings to the new reality. Organizations may forget that, in prosperous times, rising sales are not caused by clever advertising and […]
Mar
30
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How e-learning can reduce costs and improve staff performance
With the current state of the Nigerian economy, cost savings are a major concern for directors, managers, and business owners. One of the major ways to reduce cost is by reducing the escalating costs associated with traditional training, without giving up training completely. The cost associated with the traditional training sessions can be extremely high compared to the cost associated with having the same information online and giving staff members access via the Internet. E-Learning is a very cost-effective training […]
Jan
22
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Importance of Strategic Planning
In the last post titled “To become highly, focus on these activities”, there was a recommendation for us to focus more on activities that are important but not urgent. Strategic planning is a good example of such activities. Many of the day-to-day operational struggles we face in our organizations had their seeds sown in the past, when we failed to plan. Of course, no one can predict the future, everyday has its own operational struggles but the fact remains that […]
Mar
18
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Marketing in tough economic times: Email as a vital tool
No one has control over the state of the economy. Now, the crude oil prices are low and the naira is devalued. Expectedly, companies and even individuals have pulled back and reduced overall spending. Times are indeed tough. However, this is not the time to focus less on marketing … rather the opposite. In reality, reducing your marketing efforts in tough economic times is the last thing you should do. Rather, it is recommended that you change your approach by […]
