5 Reasons Why You Shouldn't Cut Your Marketing Budgets First

You’ll know the position with your departmental business budgets better than most, but with companies under economic threat and needing to cut costs, history tells us that one of the first to go south is usually the marketing budget. In real terms, during the 2008/9 recession those businesses that continued to market their businesses in some way were subsequently in a much better position once the economy started to turn.

Chances are, one of four things is happening within your business.

1. The marketing budget has been completely pulled and staff furloughed.

2. The marketing budget has been substantially reduced by eliminating all events and client facing opportunities but the limited on-line posting activity is still in place and not being expanded.

3. The marketing budget is still intact but marketers and business owners are scurrying around to adapt to a different way of marketing their products and services.

4. Some have seen the crisis as an opportunity to double down and have increased their spend in certain areas that will make short and long term sense to the business.

So, unless you are one of those unfortunate companies that find themselves physically unable to trade and have little or no choice, try not to succumb to the mounting fear that will paralyse the economy. There is a massive opportunity to do SOMETHING.

Here are 5 great reasons as to why you should not kill your marketing budget:

1. These are times when you need to engage more not withdraw from your audience.

No marketing spend means little or no resultant sales opportunities. Why would you cancel the activity that should be the very lifeblood of your business? With more people now working from home, there is every possibility that your telemarketing efforts will be rewarded. Listen to the concerns, search out the challenges and offer viable solutions. Pulling out of this activity or thinking it’s just too hard will definitely impact your business long term so keep grinding!

2. More people than ever are now spending time on-line.

Social media and digital marketing may be your absolute saving grace for the foreseeable future. BUT, strategy is all important. You’ll need to be able to define your target audience and which social platforms they use, have an effective message, post regularly and ensure you get help with content creation methods to get the best results. If you’re unfamiliar with the processes, contact one of the stand-out digital marketing agencies out there that can help. Many of the good ones have recently spent blood, sweat and tears in adapting their back-office technologies and innovating various practices to help businesses like yours get on-line quickly and effectively.

3. Now’s the chance to do the opposite to your competitors.

Some of your most fierce competitors may currently be struggling to achieve the right balance and many will have slashed budgets and reduced their flexibility to adapt to change. If you ever wanted to ‘stick it’ to the big guys that regularly beat you to the deal here’s the perfect opportunity. Keeping some or all of your marketing spend in play means that your company remains visible. There are businesses out there currently searching for help with various challenges that the Covid-19 has presented. Be there for them, be visible, be helpful, be reliable and fair in your dealings with them. They just might end up with a much bigger budget spend when tough times turn and more than ever before businesses are reacting positively to those that have treated them well during this crisis.

4. This is your chance to embrace change and adapt.

It is apparent in these unprecedented times that those businesses that are agile and able to adapt quickly to economic changes will have a much better chance of survival long term. If your current marketing plan involves a large spend on events, exhibitions, round tables, conferences and other client-facing opportunities then it is possible to take just a fraction of that budget and repurpose it to do something different. You could move to a live-streaming event, organise an on-line webinar or produce a tutorial or attention grabbing video that you can post out to your clients via email or social media. During these times content really is king. Podcasts are also beginning to gain massive audiences and this is another method of building content that can be used time and time again within your new digital marketing strategy.

5. Establishing complementary marketing partnerships has never been easier.

Piggy back marketing involves using the popularity of another brand or trend to bring a boost to your own marketing efforts. So much opportunity exists to partner up with complementary businesses and services like never before. Try to think outside the box and be prepared to take a little risk by sharing ideas with others that you may never have entertained before. You never know what innovation may surface. After all, if we don’t take a leap of faith in human kind during these times, we probably never will.