What to do when times are hard

At the time of writing, 2009 is shaping up to be a tough year for the economy. There is certainly something to be said for the mindset that refuses to listen to the doom and gloom that we hear on the news every day, however hard that is to ignore.

However let’s inject a dose of reality as well. Times are hard for everyone and it doesn’t make it easy for you as a small business owner when clients tighten their belts and stop spending money. If you are a service based business this may be even harder – services may be something your clients feel they can do without when times are tough.

Given that, all the positive thoughts in the world may not help ease your concern, particularly if you are worried as to where the revenue is coming from to support your business and, more importantly your mindset.

This situation is bound to impact your marketing effort. How should you go about marketing at times like these?

Traditionally service providers ask for more

Those selling marketing related services (advertising for instance) may try to persuade you that now is the time you should increase your marketing spend. The theory it that others are cutting back so any money you spend now will have a greater effect on grabbing clients than ever.

That may make sense in principal, but there are three main drawbacks to it.

Talk is cheap and, to an extent, self-serving in this case. It is all very well to say “spend more” but if the reality is that you are struggling to pay your staff, however much you “get it” you still don’t have the money and you have to cut back somewhere Not all messages are equally effective – If the marketing message you are sending is inappropriate or mis-targeted, however much your competition is cutting back your message will still go unheard