Marketing generates sales, sales generate cash, and cash feeds all operations of your business. Although marketing seems like the easiest place to cut “expenses” when things get tough, it’s the last thing you should be cutting. Remember…
Marketing > Sales > Cash > Healthy Business
If anything, you should increase your investment in revenue-generating activities when things get difficult. Cut everywhere else if necessary. Do whatever needs to be done to generate more sales. Cash solves problems. Worry about getting sales and generating cash and then solve the other problems.
Still not convinced? Ok, I’ll give you a few good reasons to invest more into your marketing when everyone else is running scared.
1. An Opportunity To Crush Your Competition
You think you’re competing to have the best product, but you’re really competing to be the best at marketing your product. There’s a big difference between those two things. The success or failure of your business will be determined by your ability to more effectively sell your product than the competition.
Yes, you want to have the best product or service if you want your company to last, but that’s not how you drive revenue. Money comes from your ability to sell your product or service better than the competition. There are a lot of wonderful product and service businesses that die because they think their product will sell itself. That may be true after the first purchase, but nothing sells itself before the customer has gotten a taste.
There’s no better time to steal market share than when your competitors are cutting their marketing budgets. It’s a prime opportunity to be THE solution for customers instead of just another option.
2. Money Fixes Problems
Shift your perception. View marketing as an investment where you’re going to keep experimenting until you get the return you want. Unlike many investments, you get to control almost all of the variables.
I get it, times are tough and things are tight. I’m not saying you shouldn’t cut back on expenses. I’m just saying you shouldn’t cut the investments that generate revenue.
If necessary, cut ruthlessly everywhere else in your business. Strip your business to the bones and then build back up. Dedicate your time, attention, and investment to the activities that produce revenue. Once you have a steady flow of cash coming in the door, you can fix everything else. Money has a magical way of solving most problems.
3. Warren Buffett Would Double Down
“I will tell you how to become rich. Be fearful when others are greedy. Be greedy when others are fearful.”
– Warren Buffett
Nothing captures the reason to double down on marketing during tough times better than this Warren Buffett quote. He wasn’t speaking about marketing, but it applies. Like all forms of wealth creation, marketing thrives when you aren’t following the masses.
Would you rather run ads when everyone else in your industry is pumping money into marketing, or would you rather be the lone ad someone sees? Unless you’re a moron, you’d rather be the lone beacon of hope a customer finds. That’s the beauty of investing more when everyone else is slashing their budget.
Opportunity is hiding in these bleak times. Take advantage of decreasing competition to improve your market share. If you look around at historically great companies, many of them took advantage of opportunities during down economic periods or slumps in their sector to invest aggressively and acquire customers.
Now is the time to greedily acquire new customers while everyone else is fearfully cutting their budgets.
Surviving or Thriving
There’s no middle ground in business. You’re either growing or dying. Marketing is the fountain of youth that keeps a healthy dose of revenue flowing in the door. Contrary to what most would have you believe, we’re entering a prime opportunity for customer acquisition. You just have to make the investment.
You know what else is worth giving a shot if you want to grow your business… this weekly dose of brand and marketing wisdom.
