Finding money for marketing can be a challenge in any economic condition and when a recession hits, for most, the first instinct is to cut the marketing budget. Unfortunately, this is the time when marketing is most important. Organizations whose presence in the market fades instead of staying in front of their audience are destined to be forgotten.

The good news is that there are many affordable ways to remind potential members and subscribers that your organization is alive and well. This final section of our three part series provides details about what your organization can do in times like these.

Journal Websites

Journal Websites provide multiple opportunities for encouraging usage and driving citations. Researchers, scholars, and practitioners use common search engines to locate the content they seek. Index your full-text content with the major search providers: Google™, Yahoo™, and Bing™, and utilize custom feeds for Google Scholar™ indexing to drive traffic to your site. Let your website do the work, by issuing alerts and new article RSS feeds to allow interested users to be automatically alerted whenever new content is published. Once these things are set up they are user managed and automated, requiring little additional effort from the publisher. Another way to get more marketing power from your journal website is to use unsold advertising space to promote the society, events, feature articles, or authors. Since users are most often locating specific articles via search engine results, make sure you place advertisements at the article level, not just on the home page.

Regional Events

Regional Events are one way to engage potential subscribers and establish the organization as a credible source of information. Host regional brown bag lunches with prominent authors in a city that has a high concentration of researchers or practitioners in your discipline. These gatherings can give attendees a chance to see first-hand how they can benefit from the journal and provide a valuable networking opportunity. Supply beverages and dessert and request that attendees bring their own brown bag lunch. Take a few minutes before and after the speaker to talk about the publication and provide free sample issues. Offer a special promotional subscription or membership discount to attendees. Make sure you have volunteers present to assist with introductions and to talk about the benefits of joining your organization and subscribing to its publication.

Press Releases

Press Releases should not be overlooked. Seventy percent of what is published in newspapers is the result of a press release. This type of exposure lends credibility to the publication, and it’s free visibility. Look for articles in each issue of your publication that have mainstream appeal and are timely with current events. When developing the release, be specific about how the research ties to current issues. Make the article open access for a period of time so journalists can refer to it for more details. For distribution, use an inexpensive PR service or hand-pick your recipients (NPR, major newspapers, etc.).