Staying ahead of the game

Spend on marketing and PR is often one of the first things to be cut when business conditions get tougher as it is generally viewed as expenditure that is not critical to the business.

Yet when trading conditions are more difficult, that is just the time when you need to stay ahead of the game - and your competitors – and marketing plays a key role in helping you to do just that.

It is no good running a business with your head in the sand. You need to think about ways in which you can communicate cost effectively with the people you need to reach – your customers/clients, suppliers, staff, business contacts and other people important to your business, both existing and potential. There are lots of ways in which you can do this; through advertising, media relations activity, promotional material, direct mail and networking to name but a few.

Rather than cutting out the marketing budget altogether, it is more advisable to make sure your spend works harder for you and ensuring it is cost effective. Particularly important is expenditure on marketing communications.

It’s essential to know how to get best value for money and ensure that your spend gains you maximum advantage in terms of profile and securing new business opportunities. For instance, the current economic climate is putting pressure on the media to ensure that advertising rates are competitive, so you may be able to get some good deals if you decide to book advertising. Don’t forget to use any advertising spend as leverage to see if you can secure some editorial coverage as well. Obviously this is not always possible but it is certainly worth exploring.

Media relations activity is also a cost effective way of helping you to secure new business. A well planned media relations programme will often generate significant coverage and be highly effective. It is also important to go out and network with the people that are going to make a difference to your business.

In isolation though, individual promotional activities are not going to give you the best results; a planned approach using a combination of activities is going to be more effective and you don’t necessarily need to have the specialist resources in house to handle this for you.

Outsourcing your marketing and PR (or certain parts of it like media relations activity) to an external agency rather than having them in house can prove to be a highly cost effective solution. It means your fixed costs are lower and also that you have access to experienced specialists on a part time ongoing basis or you can call on their services as and when you need them.

Whilst a business may survive in the short term with little or no marketing, it won’t in the longer term. So if you are going to survive the current credit crunch and come out the other side, marketing does need to stay on your business agenda. Just make sure you spend wisely!
Dianne