Spend now so you don’t have to later

So nobody likes to say the 'R' word. But, they are a fact of life. A recession seems to hit at least once a decade. In America, the trend has been once every 5 years since 1945 — they were more common before. Even in the UK, we are coming close to overdue. It is time to prepare.

Marketing is one of the first functions to take a budgetary hit in a downturn. Although this is understandable, it can also make matters worse. Just like buying stocks right after a crash, maintaining a strong marketing presence throughout a recession will put you on a strong footing to take advantage of the eventual recovery.

The choice to maintain ad-spend during a recession, however, isn’t always up to the marketing team. It can be hard to justify expenditures if it isn’t directly resulting in conversions. If it can be put off until better times, few people make luxury, expensive or long-term purchases during a recession. And, sometimes the budget really isn’t there. If forced to choose between maintaining services or promoting products, companies have to choose the former.