Las Vegas Web Design Las Vegas Website Design & Marketing Services - Perkolate

In tough economic times, especially here in Las Vegas, it is easy to eye marketing and market research as potential victims for the chopping block. However completely axing marketing can have devastating results for a Las Vegasbusiness.

Consider an analogy: A runner’s muscles need air. Even though the muscles may not have burned all the oxygen in the blood, the lungs continue pumping new air, new oxygen into the blood stream. Without the lungs continuing to pump air and oxygen, the muscles would use up whatever oxygen was in the blood and then tire quickly before failing completely Does this seem like a far fetched analogy? I assure you that it is not. Cash flow and continued patronage are the oxygen of any business. And marketing is to business what lungs are to a runner: Marketing continually pumps in new business, new patronage and new cash flow.

But if a business has worked hard to develop a loyal customer base, why can’t it rely on this base until things loosen up a bit? The answer is simple. There is no such thing as a loyal customer base. It’s not that customers are fickle and whimsical. It is that the customer also exists in a fluid environment where they constantly have to make choices in order to provide for and protect their families. In a free market system, competition is fierce. In a free market system during a recession competition is brutally fierce. Your customers need reduced prices while still getting quality products or services. If your business doesn’t provide this, it is 100% guaranteed that someone else will. Would you really expect your customer to turn down a better deal out of loyalty? Would you remain with a vendor if the vendor no longer offered your business the best deal available?

So we’ve established that there is no way to just hold your breath through a recession and hope your customers stay with you. But your business is in the red, you are dangerously short of liquid cash and marketing is as much art as it is science. How are you supposed to know how to apply your money when you need to be sure of a return? Of course, there are no guarantees but there are a few things to remember. A recession shakes things up. Some of your competitors will freeze up. They are not your worry. Your worry is the horde of competitors who are hungry, a little desperate and ready to try anything to take a bite out or your market share. Some of them are going to make mistakes, be hasty and blow their budget on ineffective marketing. Some of them will be do something different, effective, will tap into the customer’s need for comfort during a recession. You need to be one of these companies. Easier said than done?

However, there is one fundamental that is often ignored when people get scared. Keep it simple! It’s a recession. People aren’t in the mood for anything cute. They aren’t in the mood to see a company blow millions on a slick ad campaign. People want security, longevity, reliability, honesty. Those qualities are best communicated by customer service. It takes a human face. Don’t bug your customers with surveys, followup phone calls, etc. Teach your employees to always ask what the customer needs and mean it! It’s shocking to see how often companies try to pitch their customers. In good times, customers put up with it because it’s often entertaining. In hard times, customers just go somewhere else. Don’t anticipate their needs, ask them what they need. Improved customer service requires thought, energy and leadership but isn’t inherently expensive. It’s not an ad campaign but it is far more effective if implemented sincerely. And while you’re at it, if you want your employees to be sincere and attentive to your customers, why don’t you ask them what the company can do to alleviate some of their stress? What do they need to do their job well? If you tell them to be attentive, very few will comply. If you model it, most of them will be happy to imitate the behavior. Sincerity is infectious.

Dropping marketing during a recession isn’t an option. To complete the analogy: Just as it is even more crucial for a runner to breath deeply through the most demanding exercise, businesses must market, pursue customers, communicate with customers during a recession. The analogy holds true. If you stop marketing, you may as well try to run a race without breathing.

As a marketing professional, you might consider radio advertising to promote your Las Vegas business or company. Radio advertising can be effective and cost-efficient. It can help you widen your brand awareness, advertise specials and promotions and gain more clients.

Radio stations are a great place to reach your specific target market because radio stations are formatted for and marketed to very targeted audiences. Think of the difference in audiences that listed to talk radio vs. oldies vs. top 40 vs. hard rock. Furthermore, a radio station’s audience is broken out further into specific times of day a particular segment listens, morning drive time vs. late night, for example.  The demographics are also broken into age groups as well.

In a nutshell, radio offers a very highly targeted way of reaching a specific audience in the Las Vegas market.

If you are considering radio advertising in Las Vegas, you might think ahead about:

• Who will create your radio spot/s?
• How many times will your ad/s run, on what stations, and at what times?
• Will you work with a marketing/advertising agency or try to set up the ad campaign yourself?
• How will you judge the results of your efforts?
• What is your budget?
• Who will write your ad?
• How will you negotiate the ad rates offered?