If you are looking to advertising for the holidays and do not currently have a plan in place, you are already behind the eight ball.  The holidays are prime advertising time and a lot of companies have had their media buys in place for months.  Before going in to negotiate your media buy through a broker, an agency or directly, be informed and go in with an explicit idea of what your objectives are. 
 

Currently, we are all weathering the worst economy seen since the 1920's.  Because of this, many will make the knee-jerk reaction to slash marketing budgets.  This is possibly one of the worst decisions that can be made by a struggling business.  Instead of ensuring invisibility in the marketplace, you can continue to make bold statements…only be mindful of a budget. 

By now, we are all very knowledgable about the financial contrictions out there.  For many, marketing and advertising is seen as expendable when financial times get tough.  However, keep in mind your business or service must be 'kept in mind' for the consumer.  One great and many times overlooked solution is your web site.  In the tens of millions of pages of Google and Yahoo results are you on page 1? umm, page 2...geez page 3?  If no entered into any of your responses, you need SEO (search engine optimization).  Having just spent an afternoon being schooled in the basic overview of SEO, if your company isn't on one of the first three pages, you essentially do not exist in cyberville.  Your site needs to be content heavy and not just any content, specific content in order for the search engines to crawl over your site.  By the way, in cyberville crawl means read your site.  Specific words that appear time and again within the structure of your site and metatags assist in this process of placement in the organic results.  Keep in mind, I'm not a computer guru (and I'm sure Quantum's guru's are gritting their teeth over my not quite scientific explanation to web results).  I am just an average Jane like anyone else, okay, there are some average Joe's too.  But if you are attempting to make a statement via the web, you need/want/demand to be found.  Of course, Quantum can help you with your web site structure to place you at the top of the organic or nonpaid heap.  In this economy with tightening of dollars and business ghost towns, you owe it to yourself to not go unnoticed on the web.

With the economy being in a state of 'challenge' to say the least, it is more important now than ever to focus on marketing. Depending on who you talk to, the economy either hasn't found it's bottom or may slowly be recovering. Either way, unless your product is a must have, you have to work harder to reach your buyer. One way to look at the tightening of dollars is your opportunity Mr. or Ms. Business owner to find great deals on media placement. Also, if you aren't certain where your target market is due to economic shift or if you are looking to expand to additional markets, the time is now to consider a focus group. Focus groups involve company personnel who bring their own ideas and unique perspectives on your brand. Right now, Quantum is offering a free positioning workshop to assist your company in identifying a key word that summarizes your brand and can own mind share of your buyer. I don't know about anyone else, but FREE is always a word that grabs my attention.

In these tough economic times it is important now more than ever to secure a solid brand identity. Corporate ethics (no, not an oxymoron) have been called into question and poor business decisions have been made with some of the largest companies in the past 20 years. One way to get your brand out there is through the use of charitable contributions. Keep in mind your business is only able to deduct 10% of your taxable income and make sure you check with your accounting professional before you start writing any checks, but simple math is if your business is on track to end the year with $10 million in taxable income, you can donate up to $1 million and have it be tax deductible. Not only does the charitable organization reap a huge benefit by your donation seeing they only survive with donations, but your company can reap many benefits beyond the tax benefits. Depending on the charity, you can use your name alongside theirs in press releases and even in advertising. You'll create a solid Corporate good guy image which the public loves and typically will assist in driving up your sales. You may also experience some additional employee retention. In this uncertain economy drumming up some positive press for yourself is always a great thing, plus the ripple effect is tremendous!