Sakaduski Marketing Blog

Please take a moment during this holiday season to consider the less fortunate among us.  Due to the current state of the economy, more of our neighbors than ever are having a difficult time.  If you have the means, take the time to help out these folks.  Here are some easy and inexpensive things you can do:

1. Go through your pantry and donate unopened cans/jars/bottles of beans, soup, spaghetti sauce, milk, peanut butter, tuna, etc. to your local food bank–most are running way below normal this year.

2. Donate hats, mittens, coats, warm socks and the like to a local charity.

3. Bake an extra couple dozen cookies and take them to a nursing home or soup kitchen in your area.

4. Be a “Secret Santa” for a needy family, senior living alone, or anyone having a difficult time.

5. Make a donation to an arts organization, school, food bank, homeless shelter, or other nonprofit group.  Most of these organizations are facing a perfect storm of reduced funding, smaller donations, and greater need.

Have a happy and healthy New Year!

A lot of us are rethinking our profligate ways about now. As wallets and retirement funds shrink, people tend to spend more time seeking out the best price, considering whether the purchase is necessary, and reducing their overall expenditures.  They also tend to stall. 

It can be difficult to budge customers that have chosen to postpone a purchase (particularly a major one), but there are some things a company can do to meet their customers half way.

1. Break up the purchase into smaller increments.  If possible, allow customers to purchase in stages or buy components individually.  Customers may be willing to pay more in the long run to avoid a major commitment today.

2. Make commitment requirements less scary.  If you have minimum orders or time-linked commitments, consider relaxing them.  It is better to retain customers for a shorter period than lose them altogether.

3. Be patient.  Provide as much evidence-based documentation as you can.  Use opinion leaders to support efficacy claims.  In uncertain times, people go with those they trust.

4. If your product can reduce costs in any way (energy savings, reuse, staff time reduction, etc.), make sure to build that into your marketing.  Just as people are willing to spend more for a compact fluorescent bulb, customers will pay more for a product that will save them money in the long run.

These are challenging times.  They will require flexibility and patience.