Reasons companies should not slash marketing budgets in 2009

Reasons companies should not slash marketing budgets in 2009


1. Perception is everything. Once the market alters its perception of you, your company, your brand it can be very difficult to get back to the original state. Suddenly cut back on attending exhibitions, running regular print ads, halting all campaigns or regular marketing activities and customers and prospects will ask why, and competitors will exploit the doubt this creates.

2. It is not marketing spend it is marketing investment. You wouldn’t halt all product development and decide to stop innovating and just agree to offer the same old product or service with no further improvements until the economy is in boom again would you? This mentality would allow every other competitor to gain more and more competitive advantage over you and when the economy recovered you would be left miles behind. It should be the same with marketing. This is your chance to increase your share of voice while others are losing theirs, your chance to gain exposure while others are losing it, and when the outlook improves you will be in the strongest position of all. (Think PG tips in the last recession – they kept investing and increased market share, Tetley and Typhoo didn’t and lost out in)

3. Pipeline. Consistently feeding the B2B sales pipeline is more important than ever. As companies get nervous about any spend or investment sales will need more leads entering the sales funnel, any drop in leads generated will impact at a time when organizations require more leads not less to hit target. Don’t reduce marketing spend now or reduction in subsequent leads could rapidly impact the bottom line.

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Reasons companies should slash marketing budgets in 2009

Reasons companies should slash marketing budgets in 2009


1. Spend smarter. If you believe the 80/20 rule then a lot (not all) of companies are wasting marketing budget by not targeting the 20% of the prospect base that hold true potential. Hand on heart how many marketers can say we know who our real high value segments are and who they are likely to be over the coming 12 months? Many could spend less money but through smarter targeting generate more response.

2. Bring out the creativity. It is when people are in situations outside of their comfort zone that they often flourish (or perish). Smaller budgets demand greater creativity. Marketing a new service on a million pound budget allows lavish communication plans and multiple activities on a grand scale, but would this really generate more interest and exposure than an ingenious viral campaign that really gets people talking about you? Start thinking outside the box rather than relying on ‘it worked in 2007 and kind of worked in 2008 so we might as well do it in 2009 as well’ planning.

3. More than one way to skin a cat. There are ways to reduce spend and maintain effectiveness - move from TV to radio, from print to online. Find a way to reach the same audience in a new, cheaper way. Buy the same but spend less by bulk ordering or offering longer commitments – as many companies are in the same boat there are many discounts and long term deals to be done.

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