Those of you familiar with Douglas Adams know exactly what the title of this post means. For the rest of you, Douglas Adams wrote The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (If you want a good laugh I highly recommend it.) Throughout the book, he reminds you how the cover of the Hitchhiker’s Guide clearly states: “Don’t panic!” And with all the news we keep hearing, I recommend repeating this phrase over and over.
In the course of my work I meet a lot of business owners who are freaking out over the financial news we’re all hearing daily. They’re trying everything under the sun to avoid spending anything. And while I’ll be the first to admit the news could be better, I’m urging all of them not to panic – especially when it comes to their marketing.
The effects of cutting your marketing budget might not be felt overnight, but you WILL feel them & the results have the potential to be devastating. Just like you (the business owner) want to cut spending, so does your audience. They are trying to cut costs wherever they can. So now, more than ever, you need to do everything you can to show them you’re a necessity they can’t do without. If they start thinking of you as an unnecessary expense, when the economy turns around they’ll have learned to live without what you have to offer or they’ll be getting it from your competitor.
During the Great Depression, the biggest economic crisis in US history, companies who marketed smart were able to thrive. Leading brands who cutback on marketing were taken over by brands who marketed like they weren’t affected by the situation. They boosted their marketing to stay top of mind with their audience. This gave consumers the impression their competitors could be gone at any time because they weren’t as visible as they had been before the crisis. Their competitor’s audience felt abandoned and turned to the companies who showed them they were here to stay. Once the economy turned around a new brand loyalty had been established and the audience stayed with their new favorite rather than returning to the previous industry leader.
Studies of spending habits during the depression showed this to be true whether the products were necessities (food), deferrable purchases (cars or clothes), or non-essentials (at that time they used cigarettes as an example, but for today a better example would be consumer electronics.)
People don’t stop spending in a tough economy, the just spend smarter. They’re looking to get the most value from every dollar they spend. Your job is to show them that you’re the best value for the buck. You do this using a solid marketing strategy, hitting them hard and often with your message.
Here’s a little food for thought. GE, Disney, Hewlett Packard, and Microsoft were all start-ups at a time of severe economic slowdown. Hewlett Packard actually started during the Great Depression. Where would we be without these companies today? They’re proof you can make it through a tough economy if you’ll just remember to play it smart.
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