Every business owner wants to grow their business. But what happens when the economy slows or enters a recession? Is it still possible to grow your business or is just surviving the best you can hope for?
First let us look at the definition of Recession:
“In economics, a recession is a business cycle contraction when there is a general decline in economic activity. Recessions generally occur when there is a widespread drop in spending.”
~ Wikipedia ~
As can be seen, the typical cause of a recession is a drop in spending. So why do people stop spending?
From my observation, most people tighten their purse strings out of fear, loss of confidence, uncertainty in the future. They are worried about holding on to their current income and generating new income and thus they choose to ‘save’ their money ‘in case’.
Unfortunately, you cannot save your way out of a recession. If you cannot generate new income, sooner or later you will be broke.
How do you generate new income? You promote! It really is that simple.
Income is generated from sales, sales require effective marketing, and all marketing really is, is the action of promoting products and services to the right audience in high volume.
The above holds true for businesses of every size. It is even true for employees. An employee who is productive and continually produces excellent products and ensures management knowns (by promoting their good work) will be far more likely to stay employed that one who does the bare minimum and flies under the radar.
Promotion forwards the idea of longevity, longevity creates certainty and increases confidence and trust. Businesses and individuals that increase their visibility, that attract attention will generate sales and thus new income.
There are numerous historical examples of companies that cut advertising and promotion during recessions versus companies that increased or at least maintained their promotion. The companies that tried to ‘save’ by cutting marketing and promotion shrunk, while those that promoted grew.
In fact, there are numerous well-known brands that launched during poor economic times or during recessions. These include:
- Netflix
- Microsoft
- Airbnb
- Trader Joe’s
- Warby Parker
- Revlon
When others contract and cut back on promotion the opportunity for growth is available to those visionary entrepreneurs who can see the opportunities and realize that business grow requires more communication with their customers, not less.
If you want to grow your business, you need to promote no matter what.
