Don't stop advertising

Don't stop advertising - it's your lifeblood Advertising is all about knowing what your customers want and communicating the benefits you can offer them. Stop telling them and they will stop buying - they could even forget about you.\nWhen business gets tough the first reaction is to cut advertising budgets, despite the evidence that, if anything, it is time to keep your communication levels at a high. The Harvard Business School says that brands that increase their advertising during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and appear more stable. Success in a recession is about being "brave", customers do not stop spending during a recession - they just tend to buy differently.\nMaking advertising work during the recession\n1 Set your objectives clearly - What are you trying to achieve with your marketing budget. What products do you intend to sell to them, this process allows you to see the opportunities that exist even in a recession. Web advertising allows you to try new approaches, changing the emphasis on your advert to target new products, driving traffic to a specific web address etc. Print advertising, especially in regional guides allows you to promote different aspects of your business, different products may sell better in specific areas.\n2 Review your existing operations - Are your adverts working? This means taking a look at print, web, and other media that you currently advertise on. People are very unspecific when questioned where they saw your advert, they say they saw you on the internet, in a book etc. The need to have some way of measuring, especially on the internet, is paramount. Tools such as google analytics, both free and very easy to use, are recommended as they allow you to monitor traffic referrals. Don't be afraid to change where you advertise. And don't be afraid to ask questions, How many hits? Where does it get distributed? etc\n3 Use your existing customers as a marketing tool - Happy customers will be fast to spread the word, use reviews on websites, or testimonials on your own website.\n4 Frequency of advertising - Frequency of advertising is so important during a recession, this reinforces your stability as a company giving people confidence to book with you. Remember out of sight is out of mind.\n5 Remember advertising is your lifeblood - In many studies it has been found that businesses who cut advertising spend during a recession lost both market share and continued to lag behind their competitors even after the recession.