The counter-intuitive key to surviving an economic downturn.

It sounds nuts. It’s completely counter-intuitive. It’s something that many businesses resist with all their might.

But it's also something that could well save your business butt in hard times!

I’m talking about increasing your marketing budget during an economic downturn.

It’s understandable: when times are tough, when the country enters a recession, when people just aren’t spending as much as they were previously, or even when there’s, say, a big old global pandemic, panic sets in. Belts need to be tightened and budgets cut.

And the first thing to get the chop is the marketing budget.

Now, I’ve been saying for years that this is a huge mistake, so I was really interested when the NPR Marketplace segment recently aired a piece about the importance of increasing marketing budgets even when the market is down and highlighting the success of Coca Cola, who doubled its advertising in 2020.

Of course, your business is probably just a smidge smaller than Coca Cola and you don’t have quite the same number of dollars to throw at a marketing campaign! But that doesn’t mean you can’t learn from their success, whatever the size of your organization and current marketing budget.

So let’s explore exactly why it pays to increase (or at least retain) your marketing spend, even — and sometimes especially — when customers are spending less.

You’ll stay top of mind.

The fact that the knee jerk reaction to a downturn is to eliminate marketing budget means one thing: your competitors are going to be far less visible than they used to be.

Enter: you.

Depending on your industry, people will still need your products or services. In some instances, there are sections of the public and certain organizations that actually do well during financial crises and have more money to spend. So you want to ensure that your business retains visibility and stays top off mind for the people who are still spending.

And let’s not forget that no downturn has ever lasted indefinitely. Research consistently shows that those who kept up the conversation with their audience during hard times in the past are generally the ones who bounced back more quickly when things stabilized.

You’ll learn a lot.

You’ll notice I just used the word “conversation” — and that’s what many marketing activities come down to: having a conversation with your audience.

Brands that continue the conversation with their current and potential clients when things get tough have a huge advantage over those who disappear. Not only can you empathize with your audience, cheer them up when appropriate, and navigate the hard times with them, you can listen to what they’re saying. You can learn more about what they need to help them through the current situation and often that means you can tweak what you do or pivot your business in such a way that actually brings in more sales and revenue than usual.

You’ll increase the trust factor.

When brands continue to market themselves during times like these, it helps project an air of stability, of reliability. Your continued presence will convince people that your business is one to trust.

You can take advantage of the “quiet”.

The marketplace can, of course, be incredibly noisy and, when you have something exciting to share, like a new product launch, it can be hard to cut through that noise and reach the people you’re trying to sell to.

But, with everyone else becoming far quieter, a downturn is the perfect time to make some noise of your own if you have a relevant new product to launch or innovation to share.

Of course, there are caveats to each of these benefits and you’ll need to take into account that stage of the downturn and its nature to ensure that you’re continuing the conversation in the right way, and that you’re launching the right products at the right time.

However, once again the jury is in:  increasing your marketing efforts — sensitively and sensibly — during a downturn is the most reliable way to ensure that your business will be one of the strongest survivors when things pick up once more.

At Emerje, we’re experts in creating and implementing  marketing plans that help businesses thrive during tough times. Get in touch today to find out how we could help you.