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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