Copywriting – Marketing Through a Recession
When everyone is cutting back on spending, what should you do, stop advertising?
If you have a new product and you stop advertising you will probably kill it forever. Strange but true. Studies over the last six recessions have shown that the companies who continued advertising to the same level achieved greater increases in profit than the companies who cut back.
An example of this can be seen during the recession years of 1974-75. Companies who continued spending their normal budget on advertising through this time achieved 50% more sales than companies who cut back during 1974. By 1977 their sales had more than doubled their pre-recession figures while sales for the companies who cut back had barely increased by half.
There was a Morril survey carried out which clearly showed that share-of-market increased during the bad times when advertising was continued. Marketing your product should always be priced in as part of the production costs and should never be cut back the same as you wouldn’t cut back on any other vital component.
During World War II the British Government prohibited the marketing of margarine under brand names. Unilever however continued to advertise one of their brands, even though it wasn’t available for consumers to buy. When the war ended and brands were again allowed on the shelves guess which brand was the top seller? You guessed it, Unilever.
Price Wars.
When times are hard and competition is fierce, price wars appear everywhere. Does the consumer always go for the lowest price? Not always. A lot of the time, we as consumers determine quality by price. The more expensive the item the higher the quality is thought to be. When the French Government were trying to determine the causes of inflation they cut thousands of cheeses in half and put them on sale. Half of the cheeses were priced higher than the other half. The higher priced cheeses sold faster than the lower priced. Consumers often judge the quality of a product by its price.
So don’t get disheartened by all the doom and gloom around you.
Just keep marketing and the consumer will keep buying!
Anne Pearson
Compelling Copywriter
Skype – mapcopywriting
Tel / Fax – 01772 468979
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