The Dangers of the Dark

As the economy continues to struggle, we are all hearing about companies putting their marketing budgets on the chopping block. Historically, marketing budgets are the first casualty when budget cuts are imposed. But “going dark” and not having a marketing presence may solve a short term problem but typically creates a much bigger long term problem—loss of profits and market share.

Recovering from that loss can be a lengthy and painful process. When the economy begins to stabilize and recover, trying to regain market share can be twice as expensive and can take a very long time. Digging out from decreased market share and slumping profits is a daunting task.

Online Marketing Continues to Deliver
Even though short term relief for budget challenges is enticing, consider changing things up in the marketing mix and learning to be more cost efficient rather than reducing budgets. In the long run this strategy will ultimately save you money and if you play it smart, while your competitors are “going dark” you can scoop up the market share they leave behind.

If you are able to be bold and continue to invest, clearly you need to be sure that marketing investments pay off and deliver the maximum results with stellar ROI. According to MarketingVox there’s a significant shift away from traditional marketing efforts. B2B online called out specifically as the areas of growth.

“JEGI expects this shift in the industry to continue over the next several years, with a projected $0.88 of every dollar of industry revenue growth flowing to four growth sectors: Database & Information; B2B online media; Consumer Online Media; and Interactive Marketing Services.”*

MarketingSherpa recently did a survey to 407 marketing professional which also included some interesting insights for those that are fearlessly leading the way with strong marketing spends:

“Heavier investing in direct mail and online is working well since many competitors are reducing marketing investment, and our collective share of voice is increasing our sales” wrote one of the MarketingSherpa respondents.**

“I can’t believe how many good leads I have in the pipeline - way more than usual,” wrote another survey respondent. “All I can figure is that marketers are having to be smarter about where they spend their money.”**

So, as you can see, not all marketers are thinking the worst. There is money in the market place. Investing in your company when times are tough takes some courage and some internal negotiation but is a great way to gain more of the pie to be a winner when the economy bounces back. As your competitor’s budgets shrink, be fearless and you’ll get to feel what it is like to be able to out-spend and out-market your competition. After all - isn’t that the real fun of marketing?

* MarketingVox - 2008
** Marketing During a Downturn - 2008 MarketingSherpa