Given the current economic environment you might find your self in a situation where you have fewer resources. Yet there's still a requirement to do more.

A lot of companies are cutting back on sales and marketing spend and headcounts are often a heavy burden in the equation. This mean that you have fewer hands to perform the tasks.

Still there is a lot of opportunity out there. Your competitors are hurt and pulling back. Now is a perfect time to go out there and win market share.

So how do you do that? You don't have the budget you used to have. The seat next to you might be empty.

Marketing is an investment
To begin with I think you need to start looking at marketing as an investment and not as lump sum you set aside on the budget.

You need to focus on demonstrating the value of the investment because only so can you win the budget. Every department in your organization is competing for the same budget.

If you can prove return on marketing investment chances are fairly big that you will win some of it. Especially true if the return on your activity is higher compared to other projects.

To do that you need a model and ROI approach. Have the organization buy into it. The organization must recognize that if your campaign generates 200 leads there is an exact value to that. You should develop the model, present it internally and the act upon it.

When the model is in place decide on what tools and vehicles you want to deliver on.

And remember that investments requires calculation to make informed decision. Make sure that the tools you choose helps you document the results.

And if you have fewer resources you better pick a tool that allows you to work more effectively.

We have developed Follow-Up Communicator to help you track and report on your marketing investment. Every activity you do can be tracked and reported on so you know exactly what activities where the most successful.

Learn more about Follow-Up Communicator here.

See how BCD Travel is working more effectively using Follow-Up Communicator.