Marketing in a Down Economy

Dr. Duane Scott

A few years ago I used to be a general manager for a flooring company and there was an incident that happened that changed the course of my life. As the general manager I was responsible for a number of tasks from operations to marketing for the company. As with most if not all economies for nations or small businesses there is ebb and flow to any economy. Needless to say the flooring business had hit bottom and especially those small businesses trying to make their mark. I had decided that marketing was a key component to getting us back in the black and it was necessary to spend a portion of my budget to get our name noticed and new customers. The owner of the company vehemently disagreed and he and I had differing views on what to do with my time as general manager. The owner felt like marketing was a complete waste of time and I felt that the effort would pay huge dividends down the road. Of course I am a huge marketer as I had earned a Masters in Marketing and I was working on my Doctorate at the time of this incident. As you may have imagined I did not win the day with the disagreement with the owner and in fact I was fired from my job as a result of it. The incident was a turning point in my life and I had started my own business; not flooring, and I went on to become a professor at a prominent university. The question remains what should businesses do in a down economy with their marketing dollars?

There are a number of strategies to take, some businesses cut back on their marketing budgets, some expand their marketing efforts; which direction should you go? There are a number of marketing professionals that tend to focus their efforts on public relations as there is little cost associated to the effort and there can be great impact as well. Others tend to focus on sales, sales promotions and discounts to lure customers into their doors. Either one of these approaches are fine but cutting your marketing efforts is utterly pointless. This type of reactionary thinking will only make your position worse in your economic slump.

It is easy to make these marketing cuts and usually the marketing budgets are small to begin with but what business owners and senior managers don't understand is that marketing is an investment in the future. Marketing is the seed today for the growth of tomorrow. That was the argument I was trying to make to that flooring company owner.

Josh Alkire writes, “Marketing dollars spent during a down economy are far more powerful than similar dollars spent during good times, because each dollar represents a greater percentage of the overall marketing expenditure in your industry. While other companies drastically cut their expenditures, your consistency means that you stand out more in the minds of your target audiences. While other companies hack-and-slash their advertising budgets, you continue to show up in relevant media. This projects strength and stability in a way that supports any brand strategy. It provides valuable differentiation that will contribute to increasing sales more rapidly in the short term, and toward building your long-term branding success”.

The fact of the matter is this; sure cut back where it is necessary but refocus your spending on marketing when it is needed most. A down economy is the perfect time to differentiate yourself when your competitors are getting out of the game. Your customers will appreciate your efforts and will gravitate towards you because you have sown an impression of health as you are still marketing while your peers are not. That flooring company owner that I have lead with in this article cut back drastically his small marketing budget and got rid of a marketer which could have grown his flooring company larger than ever. Instead the flooring company went out of business and not marketing in a down economy contributed to its demise. Don't let that happen to you, keep marketing!

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