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The big payoff really comes when bad economic times rebound into good. When people have more money to spend, your business will have a higher, better mind share than folks who chose not to advertise. Higher mind share leads to higher market share when public starts buying again.
There's story of a brand of peanut butter that, due to government-mandated conversion of its factory for effort during World War II, was not even commercially available. Yet, brand was consistently advertised. When war was over, guess which brand had higher market share?
And it's in this atmosphere of free spending that market share is hardest to hold onto. More dollars to throw around, more choices, market gets diluted. Why not go into that phase leader, or biggest gainer?
So, when your competition rolls back their ad spending, pump yours up. You stand only to benefit from less-competitive atmosphere. Still a little unsure? Then set up a dollar cost averaging system for marketing. Spend same amount every week, every month, every quarter. You might be surprised you get more results in "down turned" markets.
Marketing is everything. If it weren't, your company would only subsist on word of mouth and chance.~
John is a freelance commercial writer based in Omaha, Nebraska. He publishes a free monthly e-zine focusing on branding, advertising, and marketing from his web site http://www.brandedbetter.com. Speaking with both agency and in-house experience, he knows the most valuable asset of a business is its brand.