Conventional wisdom dictates that marketing and a good sales effort are the last things to cut during a downturn in the economy. Conventional application suggests a lot of businesses didn’t get that memo.

Economic downturns are accompanied and fueled by fear. Fear puts on the brakes. Marketing is viewed as expendable and is often the first victim of the budget axe, probably due in large part to its own history. Until less than 5 years ago accountability in the marketing effort was not the accepted norm and if you can’t quantify anything you’re doing and defend your position, you’re the first to go.

But that’s changed dramatically since then. Marketers are now accountable for every dollar they spend and although that has increased the per capita spend on blood presure medicine in the marketing community it has also brought a foundation on which to stand and plead a case for the sacred marketing dollars. Doesn’t mean you’ll win the argument, though.

In a downturn the mindset of American business reverts to one of survival mode; let’s make sure we keep what we have. But it’s impossible to sustain an account base with zero new growth if only because of natural attrition. Even in good times 10% of your customer base will flee for any number of reasons so there’s your best argument for keeping the marketing effort going and the feet on the street, especially now! You need a sufficient number of new accounts just to maintain status quo.

Need another reason? How ’bout this….yesterday there were 10 hunters in the woods and today there are only two. Do you stand a better chance competing against 9 others or with 1? I want to be in that game! Let your competition remove their players from the field; it only improves your chances.

What the other 8 have done is hasten the demise of their business. No marketing message so their business is hidden. No sales force on the streets actively bringing in new accounts to replace those attrition claims, so their revenue declines. You know what the next step is, right? Yep, cut back some more somewhere; probably in marketing or let the last sales rep go. Look out below!

Fire the maid or let the janitor go. Trim the fat salaries and look for budgetary extravagances to cut but don’t shut off the pipeline that built your business in the first place. It’s the very same tool that will get you through the tougher times.

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