If I were you I would start marketing. Half of this year is over and many tech marketers that I speak with continue to hold their budgets tightly or worse yet, fight to keep their budgets. How do you think six months of limited marketing activity is going to impact your organization in the long term?
At the beginning of this year, numerous research and reports were referenced about how the investment in marketing during a recessionary time period can actually accelerate results when the upswing comes. Of course this reads well, but it is much harder to convince the senior management that marketing spend, their favorite discretionary pool of money to save towards the bottom line, can have a long term payout.
Well now is a good time to initiate some of your plans you have been working on for six months. IT buyers are still open to messaging and based on recent discussions, many seem to be actively meeting with vendors to review solutions. they may not be ready to act, but they are scoping the market to be better prepared when budget come back into full swing.
Beyond the theory that marketing can be effective during a recession, look at a few practical reasons to make your ad spend more efficient
- There is less ad spending out there so your ads, paid search and direct mail activities can get more attention.
- Media is cheaper because the various media companies and even print houses are struggling for business. They will negotiate and provide more added value
- Internet advertising costs you more in time then actual dollars
There are even perception benefits to advertising now. Your organization will present itself to the market as a stable and solvent resource. This is always important in technology marketing, but even more so now. Tech buyers may view businesses that cut advertising as having trouble. If you’re not advertising, you must be struggling, right? If the viability of your business comes into question in the minds of your customers, they’re less likely to come back. You may be better off continuing to advertise, keeping your brand visible in the marketplace and strong in the minds of your customers.
Bottom line, if you are not moving forward…you are moving backwards.
