[size=20pt]#10 - Focus on Your Customers[/size]
Whether the category is B2C or B2B, a brand’s biggest asset during a recession is its existing customer base. If your company is a service provider, confirm that your marketing activities are focused correctly on your most valuable, loyal, and satisfied customers.

Keep them happy and reward their loyalty. If you have contact with customers through monthly billing statements (one piece of mail you can count on people to open), use that vehicle to deliver special offers, relevant news, and information.

Make sure you are meeting your customers’ existing needs as well as you can. Use the feedback from your sales force or customer service department to keep track of changing needs. What new offers might be appealing to customers and potential customers? Consider whether there are any customers you can afford to let go. Those who are dissatisfied and who pay late in good times are unlikely to be profitable when times get tough.

Download The FREE Report: Recession Marketing - Getting Your Business Through Nigeria Recession By Joining The Facebook Nigeria Recession Survival Group at https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

[size=20pt]#9 - Cross-Train Your Employees [/size]
If you do end up letting some employees go, you will need others to step into their roles. This is why it is important to cross-train your employees for various roles within the business. This is best if done before it is needed.

[size=20pt]#8 - Think Internal Branding And Morale[/size]
The motivation level of employees is critical to a company’s success, particularly in service industries. Therefore, workers need to be convinced of the merits of their brand and reassured that their jobs are safe. Use internal communication to remind your staff that they make a difference.

Even if layoffs are necessary, there are steps you can take to minimize the damage. Many experts recommend investing in training for your remaining employees to demonstrate your commitment to them; surveys have found a substantial correlation between an increase in job training after layoffs and subsequent increases in profit and productivity.

[size=20pt]#7 - Don’t Cut Quality[/size]
As the pressure to find cost savings increases, companies may be tempted to cut back on the quality of their products or services. This temptation should be resisted at all costs. A successful brand is built on the bedrock of a great brand experience. A product
or service that delivers exceptional performance will keep people coming back. A reduction in quality may seem to go unnoticed for a while, but provides competitors with an opening they may later exploit.

[size=20pt]#6 - Don’t Price Promote Unless You Can Cut Costs [/size]
It is tempting to cut prices in order to retain price-sensitive shoppers, but this can be a risky strategy. If your brand offers a compelling rational or emotional advantage over the competition, people who are forced to switch to cheaper brands are likely to buy your brand again when the recession is over. But once a price premium is lost, it tends not to be regained. Frequent price promotions train loyal brand buyers to expect lower prices and to buy only on deal. Therefore, premium brands should maintain their relative price premium and seek to reframe perceptions of value. By contrast, low-price brands should emphasize their price points aggressively.

Well positioned for hard times with its ‘’Save money. Live better’’ tagline, Wal-Mart used its low cost structure and logistical advantages to keep grocery prices low during the last U.S. recession while competitors struggled with poor margins.

Many businesses turn to deals and sales when the recession is hurting them. However, doing so will only make it harder for customers to justify paying your regular prices when the recession is over. In addition, these lower prices can cut into much needed profits. The only exception is that you may want to offer one-time payment extensions or discounts to customers that are also having a hard time. Just be clear to them that you are only extending this service once.

Download The FREE Report: Recession Marketing - Getting Your Business Through Nigeria Recession By Joining The Facebook Nigeria Recession Survival Group at https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

[size=20pt]#5 - Support Your Core Proposition And Emphasize Its Value[/size]
Strong brands can support a price premium. Consumers have clear and strong associations with these brands and know what makes them desirable. Focus your marketing efforts on reinforcing what made your brand successful in the first place.

Even if your brand is relatively high priced, that high price, per se, need not be a problem as long as people believe your brand provides value for money. Most people find security in buying an established and reputable brand. What you need to do is make your brand accessible. During the Argentinean economic crisis of 2002, Unilever made it possible for people to buy the Skip laundry brand by making small packages available, which carried a low unit price. They also introduced large economy sizes that offered people a better deal.

[size=20pt]#4 - Concentrate On Your Core Brands And Products[/size]
Now is not the time to spread scarce resources across multiple brands or product variants. Recessions may call for urgent strategy. Concentrate your marketing muscle behind the brands that are most likely to survive, and leave the others to sink or swim.

Download The FREE Report: Recession Marketing - Getting Your Business Through Nigeria Recession By Joining The Facebook Nigeria Recession Survival Group at https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

[size=20pt]#3 - Anticipate Competitors Actions[/size]
Recessions are a time of flux. Now more than ever, you need to anticipate what your competition might do and plan accordingly. If everyone else cuts spending, you can gain an edge simply by maintaining your own level of investment.

Any action you take, however, is subject to a competitive reaction. Therefore, you should consider the ways competitors might respond and work through a variety of scenarios. If you make a cost-cutting move and misjudge the competitive response, you may get caught out. In 2002, Kimberly-Clark reduced the number of diapers in each package of Huggies in order to improve margins. Procter & Gamble could have followed suit, but instead they kept their pack size constant and added the word “Compare” to the label. At the same time, they increased discount coupons and store displays for Pampers, effectively spoiling the pricing power of Huggies.

Download The FREE Report: Recession Marketing - Getting Your Business Through Nigeria Recession By Joining The Facebook Nigeria Recession Survival Group at https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

[size=20pt]#2 - Analyze Company And Brand Health[/size]
Keep your fingers on the competitive pulse, using annual reports, tracking studies, media data, sales force intelligence, and feedback from customers and consumers. Which companies have strong financials and are well positioned to up the ante? What does their track record tell you about their likely recession strategy? Which brands are vulnerable, with customers ripe for acquisition? How does the strength of your brands compare?

[size=20pt]#1 - Develop A Risk Management Plan[/size]
If you haven't already done so, create a plan for what to do in the event of a recession. This risk management plan should include a set of actions you plan to take in the event that you lose business or customers due to an economic downturn. After all, it will be easier to think of what to do before a recession than in the heat of the moment as your employees are panicking and unsure of what to do. Make sure to create concrete steps to follow and then transmit the plan to other managers or partners so that they can follow it as well.

Recessions are spiky. Downturns hurt a lot of people, but not everybody. In fact, some people even thrive. Down economies are not all down. They are filled with peaks and valleys – more valleys than peaks, of course, but not a flatland of stagnation. Finding peaks to climb is the way to thrive, not merely survive, during a recession.

Whether times are good or bad, the challenge for brand marketers is exactly the same – find peaks to climb. Here are 25 Rules For Dealing With Downturn For Business Survival during the current recession in Nigeria. Enjoy Reading.

Please leave any comment below.

The Nigeria Recession Survival Group is a Facebook support group to help individuals and small business owners to survive the current recession in Nigeria. Join us now @ https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

The Nigeria Recession Survival Group is a Facebook support group to help individuals and small business owners to survive the current recession in Nigeria. Join us now @ https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

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Except from the upcoming FREE report: Recession Marketing - Getting Your Business Through Nigeria Recession.

Don't panic: Most marketers assume that consumers cut their spending when recession bites. In fact, total consumer spending rarely falls in nominal terms -- it just grows more slowly and so fails to keep up with inflation. And some categories, such as packaged goods, tend to do well in a recession. So don't panic -- your sales may be healthier than you expect.

Many believe company blog is dead on arrival as SEO. Here at WebClick, we belief business blog is an extremely valuable marketing tool for companies, even though not all companies have caught on to this fact. Blogs can educate potential customers, build trust, and even bring in new leads.

Unfortunately, many company blogs can be very banal and lack any real value other than serving a company’s own needs. However, when a company dedicates the proper amount of time and resources, focuses on its community, and builds engaging content, it can result in a terrific asset for the company.

In the infographic below, we examine 18 more reasons why you should start a company blog. Happy viewing!!!



What other reasons are we missing? Share it below. Or do you want to argue against starting a company blog? Then share your thought below.

Webclick did an audit of about 100 random websites in Nigeria. It is interesting and shocking to note that about 90% of these websites do not have a clear website goals & objectives. It is no wonder then that many of these websites go out of existence after their first year of hosting. Worst still, many of the websites remain stagnant after one year of design. If you haven’t defined exactly what your website goals are when creating a website, or you have not set realistic website objectives, it will have an impact on your business.

When planning a new website, it’s understandable that many clients want to jump ahead to the “fun stuff” and brainstorm ideas for advanced features or look to other websites for ideas of digital bells and whistles. But features and graphics should not be your starting point—you should first list your goals and objectives for the site. While increased website sales or traffic may seem to be obvious marketing goals, they are meaningless without assessing the objectives necessary to achieve results.

Defining and implementing goals for your website will create a measurable metric which can be then analyzed to see if you are getting the results you want. To ensure what type of goals and objectives you can create, we will look closely at the common goals and objectives for most websites and more importantly, how these can be measurable.

Website Goals & Objectives
If you haven’t figured out what your website goals & objectives are, a good start is working out the difference between the two. A website can have a goal which can be it’s general intention. For example, what is the overall aim of your website? Is it to promote products? Sell directly? Or simply provide information? It can be a number of things, so establishing the overall aims of your website is a good starting block in discovering your objectives.

An objective, on the other hand, is something that is measurable. You can see if a business goal (e.g selling second-hand cars) has reached it’s objective by looking at the measurable data (or sales).

When creating your goals for your website you must define what measurable objectives can be analysed and monitored within it. For example, if your overall aim for your website is to increase your web presence, an objective might include increasing social media users on Facebook and Linkedin or increasing your newsletter subscribers within six months. Therefore, an objective must be specific, have a time limit and be measurable. In business marketing and management terms this is called the SMART criteria. Meaning if an objective is specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and time-bound.

Marketing goals will differ depending on the nature of your business. For example, a primary goal for a business offering professional services to other businesses might be to generate more leads, while an art or photography site might focus on showcasing work in an attractive way or selling it online.

An attractive website is not enough to achieve your marketing goals. While your web designer can help you create an effective online presentation, you need to start by listing the strategic goals and objectives for your website. By establishing a realistic list of goals, measurable objectives, and always keeping your ideal visitor in mind, you’ll greatly increase your chances of online success.

Read more sample website goals and objectives at http://webclick.com.ng/website-goals-can-make-mar-business/

I don't really see any tangible information here. Meanwhile the article "Website Goals Can Make or Mar your Business - http://webclick.com.ng/website-goals-can-make-mar-business/" nail the point in the bud.

An attractive website is not enough to achieve your marketing goals. While your web designer can help you create an effective online presentation, you need to start by listing the strategic goals and objectives for your website. By establishing a realistic list of goals, measurable objectives, and always keeping your ideal visitor in mind, you’ll greatly increase your chances of online success.

Except from the upcoming FREE report: Recession Marketing - Getting Your Business Through Nigeria Recession.

Don't cut your prices. Many businesses turn to deals and sales when the recession is hurting them. However, doing so will only make it harder for customers to justify paying your regular prices when the recession is over. In addition, these lower prices can cut into much needed profits. The only exception is that you may want to offer one-time payment extensions or discounts to customers that are also having a hard time. Just be clear to them that you are only extending this service once.

The Nigeria Recession Survival Group is a Facebook support group to help individuals and small business owners to survive the current recession in Nigeria. Join us now @ https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

The Nigeria Recession Survival Group is a Facebook support group to help individuals and small business owners to survive the current recession in Nigeria. Join us now @ https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

The Nigeria Recession Survival Group is a Facebook support group to help individuals and small business owners to survive the current recession in Nigeria. Join us now @ https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

The Nigeria Recession Survival Group is a Facebook support group to help individuals and small business owners to survive the current recession in Nigeria. Join us now @ https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

The Nigeria Recession Survival Group is a Facebook support group to help individuals and small business owners to survive the current recession in Nigeria. Join us now @ https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

The Nigeria Recession Survival Group is a Facebook support group to help individuals and small business owners to survive the current recession in Nigeria. Join us now @ https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

The Nigeria Recession Survival Group is a Facebook support group to help individuals and small business owners to survive the current recession in Nigeria. Join us now @ https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/