Why your business should not stop marketing

‘Brand owners must see recession as an opportunity,’ says Kevin Roberts, CEO Worldwide of Saatchi and Saatchi.

Writing in ‘economia’, the new magazine from the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales, Roberts argues that increased advertising in tough times can help firms grab a bigger slice of the market.

While the examples he gives are global brands – Apple, Hyundai, Procter & Gamble – many of the same principles apply to much smaller businesses. If your firm stops advertising, many potential customers will lose sight of it.

You’ll always have a hard core of loyal customers who keep coming back even if you don’t spend a penny on marketing. But will they be enough to grow, or even sustain, your business?

Understand what you are selling

The key to successful marketing, and to finding ways of doing it as cost-effectively as possible, is to have a clear idea of what it is that people are buying from you.

If your business provides office cleaning services, what you’re really selling is a pleasant environment for your customers, and reliability (your staff will do the job every day, come what may). If you’re a recruiter, you are selling your expert knowledge of a particular sector of the job market ,and convenience (you’re taking a lot of hard work away from your customer).

This is why the brochures from paint suppliers are full of pictures of attractive rooms. They are not selling paint; they’re selling the idea of a nice place to live.

There’s more to marketing than spending cash

Once you’ve decided what it is that you are selling, the next step is to find the most cost-effective way of getting the message across to your customers.

This means having some knowledge of their lifestyles, of what they read or see. If you’ve been in your business for a while, you probably have some understanding of this, but you don’t want to make assumptions and get it wrong. It always pays to ask customers where they heard about you, in order to get a picture of which marketing is most effective.

Never forget that at least some of your competitors will also be marketing to your customers. If you decide to cut back on marketing spending, you’re making it easier for their message to be heard, and making it harder for you to succeed.