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 The Pundits say the economy is
slowly, but surely, recovering. Maybe not at the rate of
the mid-90s stock boom, but recovering nonetheless.
It must be true, because ad agencies are running Help
Wanted ads. So, ad budgets are getting bigger. Tsk tsk.
They have been missing out. Actually, for maverick
thinkers like you, that should be good news.
When the Pundits say, "Times are getting
tougher," usually the first thing to get axed in
business are ad and marketing budgets. This makes nearly
no sense. But, to your competition, you should say,
"Tighten that belt another couple of notches!"
Because that's when you go for the kill.
So-called "tough economic times" should be a
boon to your marketing. It's then that your competition
will pull back their advertising efforts. And you should
increase yours. Your competition is purposely weakening
its position. It is the perfect time to fortify yours.
Since most others are cutting back on their ad spending,
media becomes more negotiable, if not altogether cheaper.
Your messaging can become more visible with less clutter.
Your message also needn't be more
hard sell in this type of environment. Traditional notion
dictates hard sell is the way to go. But proper strategy,
creatively executed, will nearly always win over a hard
sell approach. Creative ads always get noticed, and often
garner free publicity.
Of course, you don't want to confuse "Bad Taste"
with "Creative." If you have the proper
strategy, that shouldn't be much of a concern. If you are
presented ad concepts that bother you on a deeper level
(more than the placement and size of your logo or other
such trifles), maybe it's time to address the strategy as
much as the concepts.
The big payoff really comes when bad economic times
rebound into good. When people have more money to spend,
your business will have a higher, better mind share than
the folks who chose not to advertise. Higher mind share
leads to higher market share when the public starts buying
again.
There's the story of a brand of peanut butter that, due to
government-mandated conversion of its factory for the
effort during World War II, was not even commercially
available. Yet, the brand was consistently advertised.
When the war was over, guess which brand had higher market
share?
And it's in this atmosphere of free spending that market
share is hardest to hold onto. More dollars to throw
around, more choices, the market gets diluted. Why not go
into that phase the leader, or the biggest gainer?
So, when your competition rolls back their ad spending,
pump yours up. You stand only to benefit from the
less-competitive atmosphere. Still a little unsure? Then
set up a dollar cost averaging system for marketing. Spend
the same amount every week, every month, every quarter.
You might be surprised you get more results in "down
turned" markets.
Marketing is everything. If it weren't, your company would
only subsist on word of mouth and chance.
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