COVID-19 is wreaking havoc on many businesses and that will continue for many weeks to come. Tragically, many small businesses and even some larger, unhealthy companies will not survive. But for those companies that are able to wait out our invisible enemy, I have an important recommendation that I want you to seriously consider. You probably won't hear this same suggestion from your business partner, your CFO or even from your marketing director if you are fortunate to have one.

A recession is likely to follow this period of temporary business closures, social distancing, and layoffs. Nobody knows how long it will last, but it is coming. Your company needs to tighten its belt and it should. No doubt you will be leaning on your CFO for his or her wisdom. "Across the board cuts!" they will say. "We should hunker down to ride this thing out," they'll advise. They are almost correct. You see, the CFOs who work for your competitors will be saying the same thing. Your competitors are going to reduce their expenses in all departments and, if I was a betting man, I would bet that marketing will be hit the hardest.

So, you know that your competitors will be on the sidelines for a while. They won't be launching new products or services. They won't be advertising. Even their trade show display will be smaller (if they return to event marketing at all). This presents you with a golden opportunity to gain market share, but there's a catch. You're not going to gain market share by cutting marketing like your competitors. During the recession, your business must increase its marketing.

You're skeptical. You're scared. I get it. And I don't expect you to just trust me on this one. If you do nothing else today, I want you to read this article, The Best Marketers Will Be Upping, Not Cutting, Their Budgets by Mark Ritson. In Mark's piece, he makes the case for this plan better than I can and he bases this strategy on a variety of research studies that show that companies who increase marketing during recessions gain considerable market share (that can be extremely difficult to acquire when times are good).

Take a look and let me know your thoughts. And if the fractional CMOs at Pinch Hit Partners can help you through this challenging time, I hope you will reach out to discuss your options.

By Mark Cipolletti, Pinch Hit Partners Founder and Fractional CMO

They say “it’s better to give than to receive.” That may be true, but when it comes to giving gifts to our business clients, it’s not just the thought that counts.

Our clients know we have ulterior motives and they often see our gifts as thinly veiled marketing and sales opportunities. So, like any marketing campaign, they scrutinize them and talk about what they like or dislike. I’m sure you’ve been on the receiving end of a client gift and compared the quality of items from various vendors or asked yourself, “Why did they think I would want this?”

If you want your client holiday gift “campaign” to reach its goals then you need to treat it like any other marketing initiative. Here are some tips for making your client holiday gifts deliver.

By Mark Cipolletti, Pinch Hit Partners Founder and Fractional CMO

As a lifelong Cleveland Browns fan, seeing their winless drought end last night was a relief. I must admit that I’ve been embarrassed for the last few years to even claim them as my favorite team. Our hero-in-waiting, Baker Mayfield, came into the came and put an end to a 19-game losing streak that spanned 635 days (yes, we were counting).

And what did Mayfield say to reporters after bringing this big victory to the city of Cleveland? “Dilly Dilly to the Cleveland fans!”

That’s right, Bud Light won the game too.

As a Cleveland native and Browns fan, I was happy to feel the joy of victory again. As a marketing consultant, I had to salute Bud Light for their marketing genius. If you aren’t familiar with the Bud Light promotion that I’m referring to, this may be the first of many times you will hear about it today and in the days to come.
Knowing that a Cleveland Browns victory would come at some point (hopefully this season!), Bud Light offered to give free beer to Browns fans to celebrate after the next win. Dozens of coolers were placed around the city of Cleveland and state of Ohio with 200 cans of beer locked inside each. Once the victory was official, the coolers were automatically opened.

Brilliant, right? Bud Light knew this win would be big news – not just sports news – but a big national (maybe international) story. You know, one of those underdog, come from behind, feel good news stories. And what will each of those stories include? Free Bud Light for the fans. I bow to the creatives who concocted this plan.

Of course social media is a buzz about the free beer giveaway. Even the Cleveland Police got into the act, tweeting, “We WON!!! — Wait…oh God. The free beer thing…Ok Cleveland. Stay calm. GO BROWNS!!!! @Browns @Budlight #CLE.”

So, what’s the marketing moral of this story?

Be prepared to take advantage of a big event that connects with your brand in some way. Sure Bud Light is a huge brand with a big budget and they are able to go really big with their version of this promotion, but that doesn’t mean that other brands or even a small local business can’t get creative and find a connection. Don’t be afraid to have some fun with your marketing. Surprise and delight your customers every once in a while. They’ll remember it.

Go Browns! Dilly Dilly.

​About the Author:  Mark Cipolletti is a fractional Chief Marketing Officer and the founder of Pinch Hit Partners. If you’d like to chat about the Browns (or marketing) you can contact him at [email protected].

By Mark Cipolletti, Pinch Hit Partners Founder and Fractional CMO

It’s very difficult to get a new customer. And of course difficult translates to expensive. Research on this topic provides a wide range of figures on the costs associated with acquiring vs. retaining a customer, but most agree that it’s at least five times more costly to convince a new customer to buy than it is to get an existing customer to buy again.

So, why do so many businesses quickly forget about the customers they already have – the ones they’ve paid so dearly to acquire? Do they think that just because someone bought from them once that they will automatically buy again? I hope not. Other brands are constantly selling to our customers so we must continue to engage with them too. Maybe it’s because most agencies that support our companies are focused on customer acquisition. When was the last time you heard an agency tout their latest award for an email they created for existing customers? Uh…never.

Regardless of the reasons, the sad truth is that we often forget that most of our revenue comes from a small, but loyal, segment of our existing customers. Every marketing plan should include strategies for identifying our best customers and selling them more stuff.

​Here are some customer retention strategies to grow your business with the customers you already have:

By Mark Cipolletti, Pinch Hit Partners Founder and Fractional CMO

So, are you thinking about leaving your comfortable corporate or agency gig to go solo? There’s a lot to consider – will you need to obtain health insurance?, do you have a home office?, do you have money in the bank to supplement your earnings until you build up your business? Being a solopreneur can be a little scary but the rewards can be great too.

I made the leap about two years ago with no prior experience working “virtually.” In the beginning, I needed to figure out a ton of things that I used to take for granted – things like how I would create a contract or how I would track my mileage and business expenses. I am not alone. In fact, in 2016 there were 55 million Americans working independently according to Freelancers Union. That’s about 35% of the total workforce. With so many people joining “freelance nation” a host of companies have created tools to make their lives easier.

​Here are a few of the tools that I have come to rely on to run Pinch Hit Partners, my fractional CMO consulting business. Most of them are free and all of them are easy to use (which is critical since you no longer have access to an on-call IT help desk). And these solutions aren’t just for solopreneurs. As your business grows, many of these technologies will easily scale up to accommodate more customers and employees.

By Mark Cipolletti, Pinch Hit Partners Founder and Fractional CMO

Over the last decade, the internet has fueled the growth of disruptors in every market segment. For many years, I worked in the travel industry where travel agents, tour operators and hoteliers saw their businesses forever changed by brands like Expedia, Travelocity, Jetsetter and Airbnb. Hailing a taxi cab has been replaced with Uber, Lyft and Safr. And buying a car has been transformed by the likes of TrueCar, Carvana and CarLotz. The list goes on.

Market disruption is a form of differentiation, a way for a brand to stand out amongst its competition. Disruptors understand that simply focusing on price or service just won’t cut it anymore. They use a multi-dimensional approach to differentiating their offerings to gain adoption from buyers and attention from the media and investors. Try taking a page from the disruptor’s playbook to breathe new life into your company’s brand.

​Here are four techniques to consider:

By Mark Cipolletti, Pinch Hit Partners Founder and Fractional CMO

I’ve always been a consumer who appreciates an engaging customer experience. Like many people, I’m often willing to pay a premium for an experience that is enjoyable and makes my busy life a little bit easier.

So, when my stockpile of razor blades from Costco was finally running out, I decided to try Dollar Shave Club. I’m sure you’re familiar with their funny television ads where their founder and CEO jokes about how expensive razor blades are and how stores keep them under lock and key. While saving a few bucks did sound nice, I was more interested in their company because I liked the brand promise and the anticipated experience.

Using a subscription model, I would be able to receive my razor blades on a regular basis, delivered right to my door. No more large investments at Costco or late-night trips to CVS to restock. Guys love convenience and we don’t like shopping.

Well, the experience was great. The purchase was easy and fun and the razor blades arrived quickly and were contained in clever package complete with marketing copy written in the brand’s unique voice. But then it happened…

Let’s just say that when the rubber met the road, or in this case when the blade met the face, the experience went from great to not so great. The blades were low quality. I cut my face multiple times. I felt like I had been tricked. Needless to say I canceled my subscription and have repurchased my favorite razor blades (although I did have to pawn a watch to buy them).

The moral of this story is even a great customer experience – from brand to ads to purchase process – can’t overcome a poor product. Always make sure that you have a great product and then create a customer experience to support it.

By Mark Cipolletti, Pinch Hit Partners Founder and Fractional CMO

It would be a huge understatement to say that marketing is changing at a rapid pace. Keeping up with all of the trends and technologies can seem like a full time job. Just when you’ve figured out that SEO and SEM aren’t the same thing, something new comes along leaving you scratching your head.

If you are a CEO or business owner who does double-duty as your company’s primary marketer, you may not know where to turn for useful marketing information. Fortunately, there’s a ton of marketing content just a mouse click away. To save you valuable time finding the best resources, I’ve compiled some of my favorites. Most are free (but not all) so this may be the most economical degree in marketing that you can get. You can thank me later.

By Hillary Bressler, Travel and Hospitality Marketing Lead, Pinch Hit Partners

Stats are the lifeblood of good marketers. The funny thing is that many marketers got into marketing because they thought they had a lack of solid math skills in school and thus went the route of the non-math related careers in school.  This is a bad joke as we come to find out that the marketer’s entire career revolves around math.  Budgets, column inch, pixels, impressions, conversions, percentages and the good old statistic.

Marketers have come to have a love hate relationship with math, except that of the statistic. The statistic drives us and gives us ideas.  Marketers love statistics.

There are many statistics out there that are completely useless to marketers whose main goal is to increase sales or drive recognition of a brand.  For example, global mobile ad spending is expected to reach 247.4 billion U.S. dollars by 2020.  This stat is interesting to marketers, but it does not help us drive traffic to businesses or our clients. Yes, it tells us that the mobile industry is not going away, and we keep an eye on it to watch for major shifts, but it doesn’t fuel us.

I have compiled stats that fuel marketers and engage the thinking process.  Each one can spark an idea or help marketers convince key stakeholders to move budgets around to support this ever changing digital landscape. If these stats are not a wake-up call, I don’t know what is.

The times in digital marketing are changing….rapidly.

So fast I would consider many strategies, like mobile, to be considered an emergency. With mobile now representing 69% of digital media time spent (comScore​, 2017) the time to shift to mobile was yesterday.

In addition, 37% of all online spending in the United States and Europe is now made through Amazon. This figure is 57% for US consumers (Salmon 2017).

You may hate stats or love them, but you can’t leave them. Here are some of the most worthwhile:

Pinch Hit Partners is proud to announce the addition of Hillary Bressler to the company’s growing roster of marketing consultants and fractional Chief Marketing Officers. Bressler is a nationally regarded digital marketing executive and founder of .Com Marketing, the agency she sold to Edgecore in 2014. “Hillary was one of the first marketers to embrace pay-per-click advertising,” said Pinch Hit Partners founder Mark Cipolletti. “Her ability to forecast trends and opportunities will help us attract new clients, especially those CEOs and business owners who are struggling to keep up with the constantly changing world of marketing.” 

​One thing that hasn’t changed much in marketing is how companies resource their work. “I was attracted to Pinch Hit Partners’ business model because I see fractional CMOs and outsourced marketing departments as a new and better way for companies to accomplish their marketing goals,” said Bressler. “Some of the best marketing practitioners are now working independently in the Gig Economy. Pinch Hit Partners takes advantage of this like no one else. It’s a game changer for small and mid-size companies,” said Bressler.

Bressler will be based in Orlando, Florida, a city and state known for an abundance of national travel brands. During her 20 years as an agency owner, she served many of the world’s leading travel and hospitality companies such as Marriott and Universal Studios. “At Pinch Hit Partners, she will lead our travel industry practice. She will also be a lead consultant for clients who need to advance their digital marketing capabilities,” said Cipolletti. 

Bressler started her career at the Golf Channel, launching their first website in 1995 and leading cutting-edge digital marketing strategies for the cable provider. In 2009, she co-authored a book, Discover Your Inner Strength (Cutting Edge Growth Strategies From Industry’s Leading Experts), with Ken Blanchard, Stephen Covey and Brian Tracy. She is also a sought after speaker on the topic of digital marketing.