T
hese
days
,
markeTers
are
Taking
iT
on
boTh
sides
wiTh
cuTbacks
by
Their
bosses
and
Their
buyers
.
On the business side o the equation, Estée Lauder’srecent moves are a good reection o what’s happening at companiesacross the country. CEO William Lauder told
Businessweek
he’spreparing or the worst by asking every brand manager, “What mustyou have? What would you like to keep going? And what can yougive up?” Many have already taken steps—AT&T and GeneralMotors, or instance, slashed their 2008 marketing budgets and Visaconsolidated its ad account at one agency to save money in 2009.Meanwhile, “cowed by the fnancial crisis, American consumersare pulling back on their spending,” reported the
New York Times
.“Recent fgures rom companies and interviews rom across thecountry show automobile sales are plummeting, airline trafc isdropping, restaurant chains are struggling to fll tables, customers aresparse in stores.” Business buyers are ollowing suit as Sam Rovit, apartner at Bain & Co. notes, “many companies will be orced to cutexpenses that in normal times you would not touch.”Less money to spend to get consumers and businesses to spend whatlittle money they eel they have to spend….not a good scenario.I there’s one thing, at least, that’s not in short supply these days,it’s advice or what marketers could and should do to grow theirbusiness in these tough economic times. We seem to come acrossone trends article or tips piece at least once a day.We sited through the hottest trends in recession marketing tacticsand the rat o strategic opinion articles to come up with our ownsuggestions o what to fle under “do” and “don’t.”
Maybe Do/Maybe Don’t:Increase Your Marketing Spending
I we had a dollar or every time we’ve heard someone tell amarketer their best piece o advice or thriving in a recession isto raise the marketing budget and spend more, we wouldn’t haveto pop an antacid ater checking our 401(k)s. It’s positioned ascounter-intuitive, but it’s become so commonplace to hear, “hey,you should be taking advantage o the act that all your competitor’sare slicing their spending and raise your marketing budget.” It’salmost conventional wisdom that it’s a universally good thing to do.What’s more, so ew companies actually do it, it still holds some o that maverick caché. But is it really sound advice?We’d agree there are some obvious inherent risks to holding themarketing budget steady—and even more to cutting it all together, alikely occurrence these days—while a stronger brand was solidiying,maybe even increasing its lead in the marketplace by spending more onmarketing. Generally speaking, however, to increase or not to increasethe marketing budget is an incomplete question. At the end o the day,whether or not you’ll see any bottom-line beneft in the short- or long-run depends on a whole lot more than the size o the increase to yourbudget. No matter the condition o the economy, the buyer target, thebrand’s positioning, the ad copy, the ad executions, the media vehiclesare
more important
than the budget in driving revenues.In a recession, i you don’t have all your strategic elements lined up,put a hold on spending more money on marketing communications.Once you get a great strategy in place, then have at it.
Do:
Walk Two Miles in Your Customers’ Shoes
“Walking in the shoes o your consumers is the key to keepingproducts moving during a recession,” the CMO o Krat Foods MaryBeth West told an audience o ellow marketers. “And I am talkingabout walking not just a mile, but two miles.”Our take on her comment is that marketers should not only NOT guess at what will or won’t work to motivate buyers duringa recession, but also go beyond the customer inormation basicsthat everyone in the category likely has. Take the time to erretout important insights specifc to your brand such as who theproftable customers are, the problems the proftable ones have, theproducts (or services) they are looking or in the category, and onwhat (and it’s more likely than not there is
something
) they place apremium that will get them to part with their scarce resources. Thebrands that will win this ootrace are the ones that have the deeperknowledge o the twists and turns o the course.
Don’t:
Get Ugly With Your Advertising
Maybe it was the presidential election and onslaught o negative,spiteul political attack ads running that got marketers thinkingabout using this approach to spur sales. How else to explainwhy, as reported in the
Wall Street Journal
, “As the economy getsugly, marketers are getting nasty too. From soup companies topizza chains, marketers are stepping up their so-called attack ads,calling out rivals by name, comparing products and poking un atcompetitors.” The National Advertising Division o the Council o Better Business Bureaus—a.k.a., the ad police—has seen complaintsrom marketers alleging they are the victims o misleadingcomparison ads jump substantially. The number o challenges morethan doubled in August and September alone.
Five
Recession MarketingDo’s and Don’t’s
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