Sage VAR Marketing Budgets Something to Smile About?

A lot of marketers have been pretty gloomy of late, and with good reason. A recent article in eMarketer Daily cited an overall decrease in marketing budgets through August 2009. Almost 49% of those surveyed said they reduced their marketing expenditures, while another 43% planned to remain the same. Of course, one expects to see a drop in spending relative to an overall economic downturn of near epic proportions.

Also not surprising is that many Sage VAR customers of mine have cut back their marketing spending for 2009. Quite simply, fewer companies are buying mid-tier business software solutions such as SageCRM, Sage Accpac ERP, MAS 90/200/500 and Sage PFW. Even worse, the almost universal housing meltdown has seen to it that Sage Timberline sales remain flatlined for some time to come. All in all, it’s been a brutal year for business software sales.

Ready to join a cult, shave your hair off and start mixing up the purple kool-aid?

Fear not! There is a bright spot of optimism in the report that indicates a good 10% of the budget-cutters in the survey are now moving into the Plus column on spending. Okay, it’s no tsunami of spending to be sure. But it’s a gradual improvement that should gain momentum in 2010 and lead to positive growth in the business software market for the first time in over a year. That’s reason enough for a celebration, albeit a modest one.

Will Sage VAR’s follow suit and increase their marketing activities for the remainder of 2009 and into 2010? No doubt some will. Those that will do so typically have deeper pockets or were able to secure some recent software sales, netting them additional co-op funds to burn. For business partners in a weaker financial situation, however, the penny pinching will continue well into 2010, or until such time as their customer base starts showing life again in the form of upgrades and additional license purchases.

How should Sage VAR’s proceed from here? Should Sage VAR’s boldly go where no other has gone before or should they play it more like Punxsutawney Phil in search of the recession’s shadow? The best approach should probably be somewhere in the middle tending toward the cautiously optimistic.

An all-out marketing campaign will probably fall on too many deaf ears right now to justify the cost. That said, marketing activities that do make sense—and will keep you top-of-mind in the marketplace as the economy turns around—are:

• Drip marketing letters and emails to current and past prospects
• Newsletters or press releases sent to the customer base to drive incremental sales
• SEO activities and content that turn your website into a destination portal

These marketing activities are a minimum requirement and should be expanded upon as soon as cash is easier to come by. A VAR that is not pursuing these activities runs a real risk of missing out on the eventual pick-up in business software purchases. Moving into the Plus column on marketing expenditures may not yield immediate results but it’s roughly the equivalent of smiling your way to a better mood. People who smile get plenty of smiles in return!