One fatal mistake any business can make is to stop their marketing efforts, either dead cold or in a drastic reduction. While the sales pipeline might be tighter (clogged, some would say), you still need to pump promotional dollars to keep your cash flow moving, pay expenses and frankly, survive. This topic has been discussed for nearly a year and we saw what happened with advertising dollars starting in the fourth quarter of 2008. They practically disappeard.
Be smart. Stay the course to keep your business in a position to thrive when things improve. As with my last post, it’s even more important now to track — and track accurately — what is driving business through your doors. Treat your marketing budiget as an investment, not an expense. An investment should be monitored, with a close eye on its financial return. You wouldn’t put money into say a mutual fund, and forget about it (or perhaps you did and lost your shirt or blouse several months ago), but instead, look at the numbers, up or down. All financial advisors will tell you the same thing: stay the course for the long term. Your marketing budget should stay the same course and weather the long haul.
Stay focused and plug away. There are great opportunities out there to save on advertising and marketing costs as media companies deal with unsold inventory, air time and pages. If you’ve tracked well, you can look to invest where the payback is best, and save money in the process.
