Those successful business leaders who have been known to increase their marketing efforts during tougher economic times are the ones who reap the rewards when the economy improves.
The global economic slump like it or not, has had amongst other factors, a distinct effect on the South African economy and with ever increasing petrol prices, interest rates and therefore everything else, business and individual consumers have at best, become more careful in terms of how they part with their hard earned money.
“Right now it is essential to ensure you have dynamic, cost effective marketing strategies in place. In fact you need to spend as much time as you can, nurturing the client relationships you already have, looking to secure new clients and building brand awareness overall. The worst thing you could possibly do right now is to cut your marketing budget!”
This is according to Jolene Bestbier of i-literate, a copywriting and graphic design agency and specialist marketing consultancy based in Cape Town.
Marketing should been seen as an investment rather than an expense because successful marketing efforts are really the life-blood of any organisation, particularly during tougher economic times.
“Most businesses are experiencing a decrease in customer spend right now, so you need to work harder to gain new customers and keep the growth of your company on the steady rise. You are going to not only need to keep up your marketing efforts, but more than likely market more than you usually do when the going is good!” says Jolene
The worst case scenario of companies right now should involve their inability to increase their marketing budget, which would be entirely understandable. Now is the time, however, that companies need to be clever about how they market and be choosy about the marketing tools they use.
“What companies would benefit from primarily at a time like this, is getting more mileage out of their marketing budget. Look for more cost effective ways to maintain the quality and prominence of your image in the market place by applying creative marketing strategies, that are memorable and highly appealing and rooting out valuable resources you already have available in your business but may not have even considered or recognised in the past” she says
When your competitors pull back on their marketing and advertising, take note and take action.
According to Jolene if companies are savvy and perhaps a little daring, the current climate potentially gives them a fantastic opportunity to boost their reputation and brand by making even more of an impact on their target market which will in turn give them an undeniable lead right now, when they need it most and even more so in the future when the economy improves.
