Its A Recession, So Spend!

Thinking of Content As Part of Your Ad Mix

For businesses, recession is a scary proposition.  It is a time filled with speculation, uncertainty and reactionary behavior.  There is a tendency to run and hide, tightening budgets and reducing spending footprints.  Much like battening down the hatches, pulling your sail and hoping to ride out the rough seas buffeting bottom-lines, we retreat to our core business propositions, feeling like expansion is too risky and would potentially have our hard won market position stripped away.  But this isn't a rough sea, and businesses aren't small sailboats adrift in a unforgiving sea, they are mobile vehicles that thrive on creative solutions to all the problems that arise from contingent market conditions.  Online businesses are especially dependent on maintaining connectivity and visibility.  In a time of lightening fast trends and constantly shifting landscapes, standing still is just not an option.

Don't wallow in your money, spend and make more!

When identifying growth opportunities during a recession, you can find direction from decisions made by predecessors who weathered other great economic storms. During the great depression of the 1920s a study of 200 companies showed the power of driving against the impulses of caution and parsimony.  Of the companies surveyed it was clear that the greatest gains made during this calamitous time were made by companies that in fact increased their advertising budgets.  This finding was born out again during recessionary period stretching between 1949 to 1961, where it was empirically clear that when companies cut their ad budgets to try to stem expenditures their sales fell most dramatically, while those that maintained or even increased the amount they spent on maintaining visibility in the various media spaces not only outperformed during the recession, but gained even greater ground once the economy recovered. This lesson's efficacy has continued to be proven true even through the late 70s and early 80s.

In the nineties when the economy was hurting and most beer companies, an industry traditionally seen as having a relatively inelastic demand curve, (i.e., when pressures on income don't necessarily reduce the demand for a particular product), slashed their budgets, Coors and Bud Light increased their advertising spending and saw large sales increases.  During the same period a report that looked at the success some fast food restaurants with increasing ad budgets, leading to increased sales and effectively reducing McDonald's sales by 28%, had the following conclusion to best practices during a recession: "The best strategy for coping with a recession is balanced exploitation of ad spending for long-term consumer motivation, plus promotion for short term sales boosts."

So what are the big guns doing this current time of uncertainty?  Well, as reason dictates, based on past experience we can see that some of the largest players in the current global marketplace are hunkering down, while the least timid are pressing onwards, trusting the logic of market positioning during a time of reduced consumer spending.  Of a 175 Chief Marketing Officers, 63% said that they were increasing their online ad budgets.

To continue with this logic, if ad spending is important to maintain or increase during this time, and online marketing is the best place to invest in your business's future then making sure a healthy portion of that budget is reserved for content is essential.  Content gives you all the necessary components to implement and maintain visibility plans using search engines, the primary portal for internet marketing.

Make sure you know what your message is, don't skimp on spending to get that message across and remember that advertising and market presence is about consistency and continuity. Sticking with it even when the short term gains aren't there, is of the utmost importance.

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