Panelists: Innovation pays off in a tough economy

NORFOLK

Think globally. Use You Tube. Get lots of teenage help.

Following those tips can help keep your company moving ahead during the economic downturn, a handful of marketing professionals said at a luncheon Thursday.

The theme was "The Upside of Down: Successful Marketing in a Tough Economy." Many of the suggestions, though, apply in good times and bad.

Technology figured into several of the ideas.

Tom Antion, chief executive officer of Tom Antion and Associates Communication Co. in Virginia Beach, asked the crowd of about 75 how many used You Tube. Less than half raised their hands.

"The rest of you better get on the bandwagon," he said.

Getting a video on You Tube hugely increases a company's visibility and appearance on search engines, he said.

T o accomplish such tasks, "get the young people on your side," he said. Make sure you secure the services of at least one tech-savvy high school or college student. "If you get one, they're like little roaches," he said. "They know everyone."

Among the other suggestions:

n "You've got to stop thinking locally," Antion said. An ice-cream company, for instance, could branch out and sell its recipes on the Internet.

n Don't rush to discount items. "We try desperately not to discount rooms" in hotels, said Pam Lingle, a spokeswoman for the Virginia Beach Convention and Visitors Bureau. "The expectation is, next year you'll pay the same price you paid last year, even if the economy goes up."

Elaine Kennedy, president of Recharge Marketing in Virginia Beach, agreed. "When things get bad," Kennedy said, "they tend to put everything on sale and then they find it's really, really hard to get it off sale."

Instead, Kennedy suggested bundling products and services at a slightly higher price than usual or offering them tiered, from first to third class, with differing features and prices.

The meeting, sponsored by the Hampton Roads chapter of the American Marketing Association, was at the Town Point Club in the World Trade Center in downtown Norfolk.

Another message from the panel: Unusual-size mailings can work.

Brad McDonald, owner and president of Sandler Training in Norfolk, recalled sending sections of 2-by-4s to about 20 chief executives with this message: "There are two ways to motivate your sales staff. Hit them over the head with this or call me."

Everyone remembered his mailing, so when he called to follow up, "that made it easier to get through to them," McDonald said.

When asked whether the economic slide had encouraged any healthy trends, Allen Cheek, vice president of business and marketing for Clarity OMS in Virginia Beach, named two - accountability and pinpointing your market.

Now more than ever, Cheek said, "it's become critical that you maximize your use of every single dollar. Whatever you do, you want to measure your return on it."

And he said companies are moving away from simply targeting "anybody that's got a pulse."

"Sometimes it's more important," he said, "to determine who not to focus on."

Philip Walzer, (757) 222-3864, phil.walzer@pilotonline.com