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Marketing Staffing: Why you must not pull back now [REVISITED]

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The coronavirus has had a tremendous impact on our economy.

To help staffing firms like yours navigate these uncharted waters, we’re revisiting some of our top blog posts from before and during the Great Recession. While some of the marketing advice has become a bit dated, most is highly relevant as you look to craft strategies to survive the current downturn.

The takeaway from this post from 2008?

Companies that market aggressively during a recession recover faster: with sales 256% higher than those who don’t!

Here’s my original blog post from 2008:

When the going gets tough…the tough do not pull back on marketing!  Why? If you’d like some proof of the importance of marketing aggressively, check out this article from the Wharton School.

Here’s an excerpt from the article:

With corporate managers under enormous pressure to control costs and maintain liquidity in the current credit crisis, advertising budgets often appear to be a dispensable luxury in the struggle to survive. Executives who succumb to that temptation, however, put the long-term future of their companies at risk, according to Wharton faculty and advertising experts.

“The first reaction is to cut, cut, cut, and advertising is one of the first things to go,” says Wharton marketing professor Peter Fader, adding that as companies slash advertising in a downturn, they leave empty space in consumers’ minds for aggressive marketers to make strong inroads. Today’s economy “provides an unusual opportunity to differentiate yourself and stand out from the crowd,” says Fader, “but it takes a lot of courage and convincing to get senior management on board with that.”

Research shows that companies that consistently advertise even during recessions perform better in the long run. A McGraw-Hill Research study looking at 600 companies from 1980 to 1985 found that those businesses which chose to maintain or raise their level of advertising expenditures during the 1981 and 1982 recession had significantly higher sales after the economy recovered. Specifically, companies that advertised aggressively during the recession had sales 256% higher than those that did not continue to advertise.

While marketing can’t change the realities of the current economy, it can make an immediate, positive impact on your business today and an even bigger one in the months and years to come.

Want more specific ideas for surviving this economic downturn?

Call 1-888-696-2900, and we will provide a free consultation for your firm.

And if you’d like to discuss recession strategies with your staffing peers…

JOIN THE NEW STAFFING WORKS SLACK GROUP!

We created a Slack group to help the staffing industry come together to deal with the challenges we are all facing. The group is a place for staffing professionals to discuss sales, marketing, recruiting, technology and other issues that are impacting your company. It is completely free to participate, and just one more thing we’re doing to help staffing professionals thrive in this economy.

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