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Advertising, Agency, Marketing, Media, PR, Strategy
Although strong brands can be carried for a period on the momentum of previous brand-building investments, no brand can afford to coast solely on earlier efforts. Brands that are out of sight on the television screen will sooner or later be out of mind for a large percentage of consumers.

– Harvard Business Review, “How to Market in a Downturn” by John Quelch and Katherine E. Jocz
With the economic challenges brought on by COVID-19, many business leaders are asking themselves the poignant question: “How to market my business or organization in a downturn?”

Indeed, for the foreseeable future, meeting this question head-on will be crucial not only in order to remain competitive, but to remain viable. While this current crisis is unique in several ways, many great lessons can still be gleaned by looking at previous downturns.

As such, we’re digging through the archives and sharing with you a great article from the Harvard Business Review.  This article, from the April 2009 issue, is a great deep-dive for anyone looking to the past to inform the present and future.

Read it here: https://hbr.org/2009/04/how-to-market-in-a-downturn-2



PHOTO CREDIT: Pixabay – Lorenzo Cafaro


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“Stopping advertising to save money is like stopping your watch to save time.” – Henry Ford
CONSISTENCY
Advertising, Agency, Creative, Digital Marketing, Marketing, Media, PR, Strategy, Video

During this time of COVID-19, many businesses/advertisers may have questions about how to approach their own advertising efforts, and whether or not to advertise at all.  Here is some research from the VAB and Spectrum Cable regarding media consumption and advertising during this time:

1. TV is a Lifeline


TV has become the centerpiece of the household, with 8 out of 10 people saying they couldn’t imagine not having a television right now…



2. News, News & More News

Almost 50% of viewers have at least one TV always set to a news channel…


3. Advertising Impact

Brands should not worry about a negative perception with advertising in COVID-19 news coverage or programming…




1. Source: VAB, As Time Goes By: How Media Consumption Is Helping America Cope, Apr 2020 / Lucid ‘Media Usage In The Time of COVID-19 Survey,’ April 2020. Survey base: P18+ & household subscribes to cable, telco, internet TV or satellite TV (n=1,004). Q7: Thinking of your behavior since the start of COVID-19, please indicate below how much you agree or disagree with the following statements & Q9: Thinking of your behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic, please indicate below how much you agree or disagree with the following statements.

2. Source: VAB, As Time Goes By: How Media Consumption Is Helping America Cope, Apr 2020 / Lucid ‘Media Usage In The Time of COVID-19 Survey,’ April 2020. Survey base: P18+ & household subscribes to cable, telco, internet TV or satellite TV (n=1,004). Q6: Thinking of your behavior during the COVID-19 Pandemic, please indicate below how much you agree or disagree with the following statements, top 2 box (agree completely or agree somewhat).

3. Source: VAB, As Time Goes By: How Media Consumption Is Helping America Cope,  Apr 2020 / Lucid ‘Media Usage In The Time of COVID-19 Survey,’ April 2020. Survey base: P18+ & household subscribes to cable, telco, internet TV or satellite TV (n=1,004). Q16: In general, do you feel it’s appropriate for companies to advertise in COVID-19 related news programming? & Q17: Would you boycott a company because it advertised in COVID-19 related programming?. Graphs: Q14: Some companies have created specific COVID-19 related advertising messages (e.g. Guinness, Ford, Burger King, Verizon). How do these types of advertisements typically impact your perception of a brand? & Q15: Some companies are lending resources (e.g. Comcast donating free internet, Ford, 3M and GE Healthcare making healthcare equipment), or helping local communities during the crisis (Miller Lite starts ‘virtual tip jar’ to support out-of-work bartenders). How does this affect your likelihood to purchase a product or service from this company?

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Advertising, Agency, Creative, Digital Marketing, Graphics, Marketing, Media, PR, Strategy, Video
During this challenging time, many advertisers are seeking guidance for best practices around advertising and marketing. Here’s a great article you should check out on the Adobe Blog, written by Mary Sheehan. To summarize the article, here are the eight main points:

1. DO be authentic

2. DO revisit your creative often

3. DO look closely at segmentation to inform new strategies and messaging

4. DO assess the media channels where your customers are spending their time

5. DO choose the premium options — which have more credibility with consumers

6. DON’T assume your audience is consuming content the same way they always have

7. DON’T blindly restrict your ad placements

8. DON’T share anything insensitive or that could induce panic

Be sure to click here and link to the full blog post: https://theblog.adobe.com/the-dos-and-donts-of-advertising-during-covid-19/
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Advertising, Agency, Marketing, Media, PR, Strategy
Having worked with dealerships for over 20 years, Clark Marketing Solutions is always working to stay ahead of the curve, making sure that our clients have the best information possible to inform their marketing decisions.

Regarding the advent of COVID-19, the current business climate feels a lot like being stranded in deep water and trying to stay afloat.  In the short term, we are all scrambling to figure out how to get through this unprecedented global challenge. Auto dealers will be running on fumes for a while. But dealership owners are also thinking strategically about the future, how to emerge from this short-term crisis in the strongest long-term position possible, and that involves everything, including new processes and marketing of said new processes.

Take a look at the following article, titled “How Car Dealers Can Survive During the Coronavirus Outbreak”: https://www.thedrive.com/tech/32672/how-car-dealers-can-survive-during-the-coronavirus-outbreak

The article has a lot of great, relevant points regarding long-term planning in light of the new normal, including the following:
  1. The “new normal” may lead to a larger paradigm shift rather than just a short-term challenge.

  2. New car dealers who begin offering the same kind of home delivery and online transaction services (as used-car companies like Carvana and Vroom) in earnest will be able to take strategic advantage of a void in the market.

  3. Start building and implementing a true home delivery and online transaction process now.
Right now, everyone is in survival mode. However, when: 1) the virus dangers decrease, 2) social distancing measures relax, and 3) the economy begins to pick up, dealerships are still going to face several challenges that require implementing a true and robust home delivery and online transaction process.
Dealerships that start to “paddle” now will be best situated to “ride the wave” to success. Those who don’t will be left behind, bobbing in the water and watching their competitors ride to shore.
This will be necessitated by: 1) lingering consumer wariness about being in public spaces for long periods of time, 2) consumers’ heavy reliance on online shopping/delivery services in the short-term leading to consumers rewarding online shopping/delivery services—across ALL sectors—in the long-term, 3) a shrinking base of consumers in the market for a car, requiring dealers work harder to get a share of that shrinking pie, 4) dealers who have worked to implement a true and robust home delivery and online transaction process NOW will have strategic advantages over those who have not.

In anticipation of these emerging realities, we recommend the following:
  1. Make sure that a true and robust home delivery and online transaction process is in place and fine-tuned as soon as reasonably possible.

  2. Creation of a special area on the dealership website that is dedicated to communicating AND facilitating this home delivery and online transaction process.

  3. When ready, push the message out to consumers who show in-market behaviors via digital messaging.
Dealerships that start to “paddle” now will be best situated to “ride the wave” to success. Those who don’t will be left behind, bobbing in the water and watching their competitors ride to shore.
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