I recently read an article in the Oct/Nov 2008 issue of inbusiness SA magazine that made me go Yes, Yes, Yes!  It was written by Dr. David Corkindale and was about “Marketing basics in a downturn”. 

I got excited for two reasons. Firstly because is stated what a lot of marketers (and most definitely CFOs) tend to forgot: Do not cut your advertising spend when things are tight. Just don’t do it! It will cost you more in the long run.

The key comments by Dr Corkindale that pushed my buttons were:

“Various studies have shown that firms who increase advertising spend during a recession do slightly better than firms who increase advertising at other times” and,

“Businesses that are in a dominant or strong position at the start of a downturn, and which have strategic emphasis on marketing, are well-managed with an entrepreneurial  orientation and have under-utilised workers and facilities, are well situated to turn an economic slump into an opportunity to strengthen their competitive position”

Many companies turn a large business into a small business by cutting their advertising spends during lean times and consequently lose business. Very soon, without even knowing it, you have started the ball rolling of a self fulfilling prophecy whereby you start to lose clients, revenue and so on, and your situation becomes economically tight -  just as you said it would; when if fact you have quite possibly caused it yourself!

And the second reason I got excited was because it didn’t just recommend maintaining the status quo in a downtown (what I call the easy “head in the sand approach” to marketing), but instead recommended getting more value from your marketing dollar by considering things such as Search Marketing and other e-marketing initiatives.

“Of course some firms may feel compelled to cut advertising and other expenses simply to survive a downturn, survival being much more important that simply doing better or worse than rivals. However, putting something else in its place to continue to do some promotion can pay dividends; using search marketing and other e-marketing can be very cost effective.” 

Search Marketing is a fantastic, cost effective and measurable advertising tool for companies to use; particularly when ROI is of extreme importance in your company’s survival.  The key is to be brave enough to change your media mix to take advantage of the current economic climate.

By allocating a percentage (or larger percentage) of your advertising dollar to Search, not only will you stay within your advertising budget, but you will receive quantitative data that can help you more effectively target your above the line media mix.

Then as the economy recovers (as we know it will) your company will be in a much better position to take advantage of the economic upturn than those companies who have been off the consumer’s radar through lack of advertising.

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