Recession Marketing: Three Reasons to Keep Marketing

As a business owner, it’s tempting to cut back on your marketing and advertising budget when the economy is declining. It’s easy to assume your marketing efforts could be considered nonessential right now, but is that wise? Here are three compelling reasons you should continue, if not increase, your spend on marketing right now.

Tuned In

There has been a 70% increase in web browsing, a 63% increase in TV viewing and a 61% increase in social media during the COVID-19 crisis. Reports show a 7% increase in internet usage across the globe, bringing the total number of people utilizing it to 4.57 billion. 

More people are spending time tuned in than ever before. With an unprecedented number of consumers viewing increased content online and on TV, a reasonable conclusion is that they are also seeing more marketing and advertising than ever before. Will they see your business or a competitor during their eight hours a day of streaming content?

Market Share

Companies across the nation have had to reduce budgets, and that includes marketing budgets. Up to 69% of brands plan to decrease their advertising spend in 2020. And this is true for  small and large companies. The delay of the new James Bond movie halted a $50 million ad campaign. This means that the advertising space will drastically open up for businesses to stand out more than they have, without having to increase the budget.

Not only are companies generally spending less this year, but currently 74% of brands are posting less on their social media channels. Now is not the time to scale back on your social media marketing efforts with so much opportunity to rise above the noise.

A questionable economy opens up the door for companies to grab a greater share of the market by maintaining their marketing and advertising spend and continuing to provide content to their social media channels.  

History 

A study of U.S. recessions looked at the advertising efforts of companies during the 1981-1982 recession. The results showed that those who continued to invest in marketing and advertising averaged significantly higher sales growth. And not only immediately following the recession, but also for the following three years. By 1985, the group who continued to advertise had sales that were 256% higher than the companies who stopped.

During the 1990-1991 recession, research demonstrated that the better performing companies who focused on a “strong marketing program” were able to take business away from competitors with a less aggressive approach and better able to position themselves for future growth once the recession ended.

While the natural inclination is to pull back on advertising and marketing investments during a recession, research shows that brands that maintain their budget will reap the benefits. 

If you’d like assistance with your marketing during these trying times, contact us here.

Updated: Nov 15, 2024