We all know what’s happening in the economy. We’re living it. Homeowners are in trouble. Home buyers are nowhere to be found. Banks aren’t lending. Consumers aren’t spending. The sky is fall. Responsible businesses are slashing spending across the board to ride out the storm… Or are they? Or should they be?

Penn State’s Smeal College of Business * study, “Turning Adversity Into Advantage: Does Proactive Marketing During a Recession Pay Off?" , finds that companies that proactively market during a recession not only survive but thrive. Marketing dollars spent during a down economy are more powerful than the same amount spent during the good times, because each dollar represents a greater percentage of the marketing pie.

This isn’t time to launch a huge branding campaign, but it is the time to weigh every penny against results. Just getting your name out there isn’t enough. Accountability is important in every aspect of your business. Marketing shouldn’t get a pass.

·      How many people are seeing/hearing your advertisement? (If you can’t answer this you’re losing money!)

·      How many people are responding to your ad?(Same as above!)

·      Your buyers have changed the way the research and buy. Have you? Forrester Research found that in the next six months 26 percent of interactive marketers plan to increase their interactive marketing investments and 46 percent will maintain them at current levels.   GTS' own Mike Jones has a great blog post on this subject.

What have you found that works? Are you doing enough?

*I sincerely apologize to my fellow University of Pittsburgh alumni for noting a Penn State Study.  I tried desperately to find something from anywhere else.  (It could be worse.  It could be West Virginia).