Tough times? It’s common as a first strategic step to cut your marketing to save time and reduce expenses. But is it a wise decision? 

I see a lot of capable business owners starting and stopping their marketing either because they are too busy or they don’t have the money to allocate to their marketing budget.

But there are a lot of reasons why this just makes things a lot worse in the long term. 

Reason #1. People Will Not Find You

No matter how awesome your product or service, if your customers can’t find you, they can’t buy from you.

Reason #2. You Can’t Drive Leads

Business is all about sales. Without marketing, you will not have enough leads that you can convert to sales to make your business profitable.

Reason #3. You Will Lose Credibility

All successful businesses have built trust with their target audience. For example, having a Facebook community allows you to connect with your target demographics and build credibility by posting valuable content. You can also reach out to them, ask them how much they love your product, or what you can do to improve. If people can’t find you, they might think something is wrong with your business.

Reason #4. People Will Forget About You

What makes you different? Why should your customers pick you over the competition? Marketing helps you convey key marketing messages with clarity and purpose to your target customers. Without it, people will forget about you and you’ll lose brand awareness.  

Reason #5. You Can’t Create an Emotional Connection With Your Customers

Do you know that no matter how rational, most people still make a buying decision based on their emotions? There’s so much to your brand than just being a physical store or office. Successful businesses have customers that feel an emotional attachment to their brands. You should too. And if you don’t have one, you’d want them to.

You create an emotional connection with your customers through branding, marketing and advertising. If your business can connect with your followers at an emotional level, the chances of them recalling your brand when the need arises skyrockets.

Reason #6. You’ll Lose Word of Mouth

Loyal customers love to talk about their favourite brands. Just take for example Apple fans who would fight over Microsoft loyalists just to prove that the Mac is better. Same is true for the iPhone and Android. Word of mouth marketing isn’t a new concept, but it’s very powerful.

GoPro launched the Everything We Make campaign, encouraging fans to submit photos to get featured in GoPro marketing materials. For two years, the campaign has amassed 150+ entries per day! They also found out that 66% of consumers are more likely to give a referral after receiving social recognition.

Reason #7. You Will Not Be Able to Inspire Your Team

Do you know why Google, Apple, and Facebook employees are proud of their work? Apart from having an awesome company culture, these employees are happy because they work with brands that are leaders in their respective industries. These brands are instantly recognizable wherever you are in the world. They represent innovative thinking and global reach. And their employees represent that too.

Can you imagine the impact on your business having employees who are loud and proud to work in your company?

Reason #8. You Won’t Be Able to Even Out Sales Peaks and Troughs

Even successful businesses have sales troughs which can cause chaos with cash flow, resource planning, etc. During months with low sales, you can use a marketing campaign to influence sales around those times. You can also use marketing to amplify your sales during peak season to cover for rough months.

Don’t be too naïve to think that you can change people’s behaviour to purchase your product whenever you want them too. That won’t just happen. Unless… you have a strong marketing base that is consistent and team that with giving them a good enough reason to.

Reason #9. You’ll Miss the Fun

Marketing is fun. Who doesn’t want to spend time creating ideas that turn people into paying customers? Who doesn’t want to experience the rush of adrenaline as numbers from your digital campaign reach record highs? Who doesn’t want to get to know their customers better?

When Times are Rough, Stick to Your Marketing Plan

A well-crafted strategic marketing plan helps you navigate rough seas when the winds don’t blow in your favour. Most marketing actions don’t get real results until they’ve been consistently applied for at least 3 months. Understand that building trust and changing people’s minds and behaviours takes time. Every time you cut your marketing, you’re resetting that and you’ll end up spending more money and time trying to get it back than if you left your strategy in place.

Do you need a strategic marketing plan that’s designed to help you with a strong marketing base to get you through the tough times? Get in touch with us today.