Marketing budgets are most at risk during economic downturns, but Gartner, Inc. has identified six marketing processes that can be automated to drive revenue and cut costs, maximizing marketing budgets and return on investments (ROIs). Gartner advocates the use of six key marketing processes to help marketing drive revenue, cut costs and drive ROI, thus justifying its spending.

1.Retention Management
Retaining high value or potential high-value customers is essential in difficult economic times. Gartner advises that organizations calculate the profitability and value of customers, identify those they want to keep and develop retention programs based on their customer segment and identified needs. This includes understanding how a customer may be affected by the economy and developing programs to support them. Event triggers can proactively identify when a customer’s circumstances may be about to change and staff should be trained and empowered to recognize this. Gartner predicts that in 2009, companies that develop effective retention management processes will reduce churn of profitable customers by at least 10 percent within six months.