When times are tough it’s always easy to panic and start cutting costs all over the place without really thinking about the consequences. One of the first things to get slashed is often a company’s marketing budget. Hey, we’ve been in business for quite some time now and have lived through the financial crisis in 2008 and so we understand how difficult it can be.
We are now moving into unprecedented times, no one knows how long this situation will last for and no one knows what the economy will look like at the end of it. All we can do is act on those things that we do know.
Business Situation in the UK
It is very likely that a lot of businesses are about to face some of their toughest times, the number of measures that the UK Government has put in place illustrates just how serious the situation is. This is why it’s a time to consider your costs and your income and how that might change over the coming months. But it is undoubtedly those businesses that plan for the time we emerge from the other side of this that will survive and grow stronger.
There are obviously industries where marketing needs to change considerably, look, if you are an airline then now is not the time to be advertising flights. By the same contrast the supermarkets are currently seeing a massive upsurge in sales. But for most of us, we are somewhere in the middle. Many of us will be working with a skeleton staff, some from home, there will be those that simply need to shut up shop for a while and look to the Government to help support them until they can begin properly trading again. Others again, may look at reinventing themselves or changing the way they currently work.
So, where does marketing come into this?
Why Cutting Marketing can be a bad idea
If you are tracking all of your leads and sales and have a good understanding that a particular area of your marketing activity isn’t working, then I would ask why you are still doing it anyway. But in general, when we look back in history during recessions it’s those companies that continue to market themselves that tend to do better.
In most instances cutting your marketing spend can be the very worst thing you do. Here are some reasons why:
- People will not find you
If people can’t find you then they won’t buy from you and many more will be looking to the internet rather than more traditional methods.
- Leads will dry up
Yes, things are going to be quiet, but following on from point number 1, without people coming to your website they won’t become leads, and zero leads means zero sales.
- You will get forgotten
If you stop communicating with your audience, then not only can you reach new potential customers, but your existing ones will start forgetting about you and look to new suppliers.
- Your customers will feel neglected
Now is one of the most important times to keep in touch with customers, make them feel valued and they will come back to you, cease all communication and they will think you don’t care about them.
- Your staff will lose motivation
If your staff start to see things falling into the abyss, they will lose motivation to put that extra effort in, show them you are serious about staying around during this period. Look after them even if they are unable to work right now, share your plans, explain how you intend to get through this difficult period.
If you are working with a marketing company, talk to them about your concerns and come up with a plan together. Knee jerk reactions are often the wrong ones to make. You may find there is a way you can focus on a different area, for example switch to home delivery, service the public rather than business, offer your services in a different capacity (online or by phone). There are always ways to adjust what you do even if the way forward isn’t clear.
Remember, be strong and look at this as a time to reflect, adjust and come out the other side fighting!