news

Jilly Gives Some Sound Advice In This Week's Ask The Experts

Look out for Jilly’s Ask The Experts column in Tuesday’s Birmingham Post where she has given her thoughts on marketing during the recession. Below is the article, let us know if you agree!

Keep Your Edge Over Competition

Q: Why is it important to continue to spend on marketing during the recession?

A: When the economic climate takes a turn for the worse, the marketing budget is usually the first to come under scrutiny as businesses try to cut back on their variable costs. While this may provide some financial respite in the short term, it will prove to be a costly decision in the long term.

You need to look upon your marketing activity as an investment opposed to an expense, where in these uncertain times you can gain significant competitive advantage if you spend your marketing budget wisely.  If you choose to actively market your business at a time when competitors are reducing their levels of marketing activity, you significantly increase the prominence of your business in the market place.

Those that choose to maintain or even increase their marketing budget will seize the lead in the race for market share whilst the competition is flagging, creating a gap between those that are actively marketing and those that choose to cut back until the recession is over. Once the economy picks up again, those that have made cut backs in their marketing budget will find that they have been left behind and will struggle to regain their market share.

It is widely known that around 1% of your turnover should be spent on marketing your business, and in times of economic difficulty it is paramount to utilise this in order to ensure you are in a strong position when the economy recovers.

The recession offers opportunities to you that you could not expect to find in a time of economic growth. Advertising rates are considerably lower offering you more value for money and PR opportunities are widely available to those that choose to advertise.  The value of the web comes into its own during a recession, with your website offering the first point of contact with the customer.

Carefully managing your marketing budget and exploiting the opportunities available is critical to continued growth once the economy starts to grow again. A marketing and design agency is best placed to provide advice.

Birmingham Post Tuesday 11th August 2009