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Marketing in a Recession
By David Owens, Director of Business Development, Justice & Young

As it looks clearer that our economy has entered a recession, perhaps through 2009 by some accounts, now is the time to recommit to investing in marketing. Now more then ever, there's a need to fill your sales pipeline and capture your target audience's attention.

When tough times hit, the majority of companies instinctively cut their marketing budget. However, historically cutting your marketing budget to boost your bottom line is like stopping your watch to save time.

Consider this:

• In Management Reviews analysis of the 1990-1991 recession years, the majority of firms that increased marketing budgets secured gains in market share.

Source: Greenburg, Eric Rolfe. “Fortune Follows the Brave,” Management Review, January 1993.

• McGraw-Hill Research studied 600 industrial companies in the 1981-1982 recession, concluding that companies who maintained or increased the marketing investments averaged significantly higher sales than those that eliminated or decreased their marketing expenditures, during the recession and for the following three years.

Source: McGraw-Hill Research. Laboratory of Advertising Performance Report, 1986.

As the economy slows, your competitor's noise and clutter will inevitably lessen as they give into the impulse of reducing their marketing activities. Your long-term opportunity is to take advantage of this lull by consistently conveying your value proposition to your prospects and existing customers.

Time and time again, companies that remain resolute in funding their marketing investments have the opportunity to dramatically improve their market position.

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