“There is a consequential effect that marketing has on your business one, two, three years and more down the line if you don’t market during a recession. And while the cost of living increases along with inflation and other factors, you will be losing sales and income down the road when you will really need it if you cut back on marketing during times of recession. But as I say, even though unfortunately, companies will invariably cut their advertising budget during a recession so be smarter and use that to your advantage – for more business and growth now as well as in the future, because if you do you will come way out ahead when the recession starts to wane,” Olgivy maintains.
“In a Morril survey of 40,000 men and women involved in the purchase of 23 industrial products over five years, it was found that share-of-market went up in bad times - when advertising was continued,” Olgivy says. He goes on to source the American Business Press that had pie charts of sales of companies that cut back their advertising expenditure during the 1974-1975 recessions compared with companies that did not cut back. The companies that did not cut their advertising budgets had more than doubled their sales two years later while sales from the companies that cut their advertising had barely gone up 50 percent. Three years later sales were down for companies that had cut their advertising while it was up for those that did not. The net income for these companies also followed the same suit over the same period of years – those companies that did not cut their advertising had more than tripled in sales, while companies that did cut back during the recession had barely doubled.
Says Joy Gendusa, “At my company, PostcardMania, [of which she’s CEO] we are definitely being hit by all the business owners that feel they had better cut back on their marketing due to the economy. Don’t misunderstand; we are still growing and doing great but our growth has slowed slightly. And that growth is harder won these days.
“It’s at these times you have to be smarter. You have to market smarter and reach higher quantities of people with your marketing message. Your return on investment may be lower and you may earn less per dollar spent on marketing. But think this through … if you cut back on your advertising you will undoubtedly have less business coming in. Operating that way, now look a year down the road … how’s your business doing? Scary.
“However, if you increase your advertising and marketing budget and your competition is cutting back what will happen? Look a year into the future on this one too … what do you think will happen? Who will get the business?
Gain customers, don’t close down
Look at what the big boys are doing. Are they cutting back on their marketing? Some are, but will regret it. But certainly not all. Witness your own mailbox - you don’t have to do a hard search for this data. Bed Bath & Beyond, Crate&Barrel and JC Penney, even AARP is marketing heavily. Read the March 2008 issue of Fortune Small Business magazine article, ‘Slump Busters,’ where you can meet business owners who have devised smart strategies to prosper amid the economic slowdown. In the article, Villanova School of Business professor John Pearce II, made an interesting observation: ‘Recessions are a period of opportunity; during recessions large companies abandon marginally profitable customers, and small businesses can get those customers.’
“Capitalize on that and gain those customers by marketing. You have to look at the long-term future in order to ride the recession wave and come out on top.
“You can go into agreement with the thousands of small business owners and cut back on your marketing and you can get smaller and possibly even close down. You can do that. Or you can emulate the companies that are surviving and growing. It’s up to you really. Personally, I refuse to be dictated to by the economy. I have plans! I will invest in myself, my own smarts, my own persistence, my own perseverance, my company, my staff, their futures and on and on.
“Giving up, shrinking, for me is not an option. It shouldn’t be for you either.”
Originally posted by "The Headhunter" on another site
Deb
The only true hydrating water
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