Recession-Busting Marketing

At this week's Women in Technology Sales and Marketing event, "Marketing in the New Economy," the panelists shared their best recession-busting marketing tips.  The presenters were Julie Sokley, McAfee; Jennifer Abernethy, The Sales Lounge and Matt White of White + Partners.  The panelists agreed that this has been a year of experimentation -- with Twitter, Facebook ads and events.

Julie at McAfee shared the details of their Executive Summit in Las Vegas, which is open to their most senior clients and prospects.  This year, the attendance list included about 10 VIPs that were unemployed.  Recognizing the value of these evangelists, McAfee rolled out the red carpet for them in spite of their employment status.  This strategy has already paid dividends with a big contract win.  Unfortunately for McAfee, Symantec's recession-busting strategy was to ride the coattails of McAfee's event; they wisely bought out all the signage in baggage claim at the Las Vegas airport during the McAfee event.

Matt White recommended that everyone continue to invest in marketing even during a downturn.  White + Partners clients, Luray Caverns, Wolftrap and a local Mercedes-Benz dealer are having record years.  In the case of Mercedes, they have had some success with a promotion offering disgruntled Redskins fans the opportunity to turn in their unused tickets for a discount off a new car.  Now that's something to cheer for.

Top photo: Event panelists: Matt White, White + Partners; Jennifer Abernethy, The Sales Lounge, Julie Sokley, McAfee; Traci Robinson-Williams, FedMatch


Bottom photo: WIT Marketing and Sales SIG Chairs: Sue Keith, ENC Marketing and Patricia Mejia, Siteworx

- Katie Hanusik