“This is not the time to cut advertising. It is well documented that brands that increase advertising during a recession, when competitors are cutting back, can improve market share and return on investment at lower cost than during good economic times.” FT (18.2.08)

Marketing is often seen as one of the easy areas to cut spending when trading conditions become difficult and cash is tighter. So if you’re faced with tough budget decisions where should you start? And how can you squeeze more value out of your marketing spend? Here are our top twelve tips:

Change The Tactics Not The Fundamental Strategy
Customers remember who was there for them when they were struggling and who changes with the seasons. Don’t throw over years of investment in creating a brand and reputation lightly. You can’t just revert to plan A when things pick up.

How Is Behaviour changing
What impact has the credit crunch had on demand and the timing of that? Have the “buying triggers” changed? What issues and pain points do you know that your customers will face this year? Can you anticipate crunch points and get you message across at the right time? Can you be seen to help clients through their problems? Communicate other uses for your product. Share knowledge you have in your business that could help your customers. This may cost you little and but add value to your brand in customers’ eyes.

Spending On Brand v. Generating Opportunities
If much of your marketing spend is currently general brand building support can you move the focus of spending to generating more sales opportunities or improving conversion rates? Be aware of how long you can do this for, however, before perceptions of your brand deteriorate.

Pick Your Targets Carefully
Which customers will ride out the recession best? Which competitors are vulnerable? How can you address these markets specifically?

Keep Communications Flowing With Customers And Add Value
Customers will be poorer or feel poorer. They will be more frugal and cautious in their expenditure. They’ll be focused on value for money. Others will be targeting them. Reassuring customers about the value your products or service delivers becomes more important in this environment. If you are a premium brand, justify why it makes sense for customers to pay that premium.

Don’t Miss A Trick In Selling To Existing Customers
In most industries acquiring new customers costs more than achieving the same value sale to an existing client. In difficult times this is even truer, as creditworthiness of new, unfamiliar customers is more of an issue, as is the growth of “bargain hunters” who will never become loyal customers.

Target Not Scattergun
Review your spend. If you need to make savings cut out entire activities rather than spreading the budget too thinly to be effective anywhere. Are there areas where you are paying to reach large number of people when only a few can ever be buyers? Can you focus on better prospects? Look in particular at spend where the justification is “we always done that” or “we do that every year”. Are these still good habits?

Build Once, Use Often
If a special offer worked before, it might well work again and save you inventing a new process internally to manage the take-up. It’s certainly worth re-visiting past promotional successes in the current environment rather than re-inventing the wheel.

Value Analysis – Savings Customers Won’t Notice Or May Even Appreciate!
Understanding what the customer truly values in your product or service many enable you to cut out the unnecessary costs of features they don’t value. Value analysis is simply about breaking your product or service down to all of its component parts and asking which really add value to customers and which don’t. The golden rule is, don’t cut what adds value, but look for what doesn’t, or no longer does.

Consider Moving More Towards On-Line Marketing
Don’t believe the evangelist techies who tell you that this is the answer to everything, is always cheaper and must now be the focus of your spend. However, if you sell expertise, through services or products, using social media tools as part of your marketing programme needs serious consideration.

Cultivate Your Advocates When money is tight customers are even less likely to take risks and trust is an even more important component of decisions. Identify and arm your advocates to spread the message about you or your products – this sometimes costs no more than thought and effort. On-line tools can help you spread the message far and wide very cost-effectively.

Don’t Slash Price But Offer Deals
Research shows that, on average, only 10 percent of consumers in a category are exclusively motivated by price. Most buyers will look for ways to continue getting their favourite “brand”, to use suppliers they trust. They may watch for opportunities to buy on deal, or buy a larger, more economical package, or, in the case of retail, seek out the outlet that offers the brand at the best price.

Above all, during a recession you need to remind people why your brand is worth the price by focusing on and delivering on functional advantages – and incentivising trial and purchase more.