Why a Recession is No Time to Cut Back on Advertising

Fears of recession have a definite impact on people's buying habits

 While it remains to be seen whether a true recession is on the way, a global economic slowdown seems to be a reality for the time being. When money is tight, people automatically do certain things: turn down the thermostat, drive less, put off buying things they don't absolutely need.

If you're in business, however, some things that may seem intuitive to you are exactly the wrong ways to try to survive tough times. One potentially fatal mistake is to cut back on advertising. Even in a recession, people buy things, and the products and services they choose are the ones with the greatest top-of-mind awareness.

Which products and services have the greatest top-of-mind awareness? The ones being advertised, of course.

And when people are spending more selectively, you want your share of the dollars they do spend. With that goal in mind, you need to put your advertising dollars where they'll work the hardest.

How to leverage your advertising dollars for the greatest return on investment

1. Build a strong team. That means outsource: find skilled freelancers to take care of your design and marketing needs. Burdening staff members who aren't qualified for these tasks is a sure path to wasted time and money.

2. Don't use an ad agency. Snazzy, clever ads win awards but don't bring in consumer dollars. Results aren't measured--and guesswork is an expensive game.

3. Study the competition. When you discover what they're doing to win a share of the market, you have two choices: do the same thing better, or do something else. A marketing professional can help you figure out the best strategy.

4. Find the emotional hot button that resonates with people in difficult times. You may need to tweak your marketing message to fit the current economic circumstances.

5. Stay top-of-mind: publish a newsletter (online and/or offline), maintain an effective website, do direct mail pieces, send press releases, submit a regular stream of marketing articles to online article directories, offer free reports and white papers, write a column for a local or trade publication, create catalogs and magalogs.

6. Most important, don't waste time doing nothing. The successful businesses are the ones already taking the above actions.

Don't waste time and money on ineffective marketing strategies. Remember, the worst ideas include using an ad agency, doing it yourself, doing nothing, and everything else on this list. The more time you waste on weak marketing efforts, the better a foothold your competition gains in your market niche. And the better a foothold they gain, the harder it will be for you to reclaim your lost ground--especially in tough economic times.

You don't want the business you've worked so hard to build fail just because of a temporarily weak economy, do you?

Make the right adjustments to your marketing program, and you can not only survive--but thrive.

Resource: Click Here