If you are like us, you have become desensitized to the media hype on the economy. Like most, you have evaluated your business strategy and made changes where necessary to safeguard your business from the effects of this recession. But have you fallen into the pitfall that the majority of businesses have in past recessions?

Study after study points to the fact that companies that do not cut marketing expenditures experience higher sales and net income during the span of the recession and the years that follow than those companies that made marketing cuts during the recession years.

In fact, companies that increase their marketing expenditures during economic downturns average significantly higher sales growth both during a recession and the years following one than those that eliminated or decreased marketing.

So how can you do more with less? Educate yourself. Print, Web and events marketing are the most-used media outlets for event professionals. What are you getting for your investment?

READ THE FINE PRINT

There are three phrases you need to know regarding print marketing: copies published, circulation and sell-through. You need to know all three to understand what you are buying. Generally, it's unimportant how many copies are published; what you really need to know is how many copies are reaching your customers. That is called circulation, which is the total number of paid subscriptions and copies sold on the newsstand and/or provided to qualified recipients. Sell-through will provide you with another important statistic; this is the percentage of distributed newsstand copies that were actually sold. The higher the sell-through, the better your value.

WORLD WIDE WEB

While pay per click (PPC) and pay for action (PFA) are great models for tracking Web ads and sponsored links, the best exposure for event businesses is listings on brand-relevant sites. Free services such as www.alexa.com can help you compare the traffic of different Web sites. Quantcast.com provides information on gender, age, household income and education of Web site visitors.

EVENT MARKETING

ROI on event marketing is often nebulous at best. The key to this medium is reaching influencers. Ask to see an attendee list from previous events and to see demographic information about target attendees. Contact similar vendors who participate in the event marketing opportunity and gain their insight on the experience. Right now, more than ever, event marketing investments need to result in sales.

Name: Matthew Trettel and Bruce Vassar

Company: The Wedding Guys®

Address: 711 W. Lake St.

Minneapolis, MN 55408 USA

Phone: 612/770-0970

Web site: www.theweddingguys.com

E-mail: info@theweddingguys.com