Q. As a small-business owner, many of my peers have been advising me to cut back or hold on my marketing initiatives until the economy bounces back. Is this the best advice?
A. Recessions are periods of opportunity that can be taken advantage of or can take advantage of you. Make certain you know how to capitalize on the great marketing opportunities provided by a recessionary period.
David Warschawski, founder and CEO of Warschawski, a marketing communications agency in Baltimore, presents four reasons why you should market during a down economy and how to go about doing it:
1. Compounded problems today mean more expensive problems tomorrow. When budgets are tight and fewer members of your target audience are buying what you’re selling, even fewer will buy if you stop marketing to them. By cutting your marketing spending, you risk compounding your troubles today and your bottom line will shrink further tomorrow.
Not only will you sell less than if you had kept your marketing steady, but you’ll cede your core customers to your competition. That means you’ll have to spend more time, money and energy in the future to win them back.
2. Cut through the clutter quickly. Marketing is often the first thing to go when businesses cut back on spending during tough economic times. The usual marketing clutter and noise from competitors is minimized, leaving you with a more captive audience.
3. They are spending – so make it on you. The truth is, in a down economy people will still spend money. But only if you convince them that spending their money with you makes sense both on an emotional and practical level.
Therefore, if you’re not actively marketing to your core target audience, another provider of the same product or service, or an entirely different type of product or service, will win their disposable income.
4. Spend less and have a stronger effect. Even when a business is strapped for cash, there are relatively low-cost ways to market during a down economy that take advantage of the less-cluttered playing field and enable you to enjoy greater dividends than usual. Two sound marketing investments that have great bang for the buck are brand-centric public relations and Search Engine Optimization.
For more information, visit www.warschawski.com.
