My Marketing Strategy Nicolette Lemmon, President & Founder

With the economy slip-siding and senior management discussing budget cuts across the board, what is the real impact on the organization when marketing gets slashed?

A noted marketing authority, Jack Ries, commented in his book, The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, “Marketing is a game fought in the mind of the prospect.  You need money to get into a mind.  And you need money to stay in the mind once you get there…You can’t save your way to success.”

What’s more, you can “cut” your way to failure.

In a down economy, the slowing of revenue means finding ways to mitigate expenditures.  But, the only way to bring in more revenue is through marketing and sales.

While it is realistic to determine budget cutbacks, the impact in marketing is more deleterious than management may initially think.

Because marketing requires consistent touches of customers and prospects to generate purchases, it is like a giant flywheel.  Every turn is important to get the flywheel going, but when the money to support the flywheel is lowered or completely stopped, there are no efficiencies, no movement.

In essence, you can’t just turn off the flywheel and expect it to pick back up at its regular pace when money is available again.

The smart thing to do in reviewing budget changes is to first look at monies supporting non-revenue producing activities.  The next best thing is to cut monies that are targeting those customers that are not contributing the most in revenue. Trim direct mail to those that are not profitable for you or those younger than a certain age who cannot afford your main revenue producing products/services.

Focusing dollars on protecting the core of customers/members who are contributing revenue-producing business still requires budget and consistency.

You just can’t cut your way to success.