The Teckki Says

Yes!

You should advertise in a recession.

I know that this is one of the first items to go during a recession. It should actually be one of the last. I know the logic – in a recession, customers aren't buying as much, so why advertise more than you have to?
One answer to that is the other guy’s customers.

You have competition in good times. In bad times, two things are happening. First, someone is going out of business. This is not the case of vultures circling a dead carcass. Some firms will lose customers at a rate that is unsustainable for the business they have built. They will starve at the level they are at. Additionally, they may not be able to downsize fast enough before they starve to death, or figure that if they can't eat at the level they’re used to eating at, then they won't eat at all. This doesn't bode well for the customers left behind. Advertising makes you a potential suitor.

Another reason is that in every recession, organizations make decisions regarding current services and products they use. In many cases, they use less products or different services. In other cases, they change suppliers. Again, you can be the beneficiary.

These things are happening to you and your customers as well. You have to decide how you are going to resize your organization, and if you don't do it well, your suppliers lose a customer. Customers are also deciding whether you are going to be their supplier going forward. This is where you increase your customer service efforts, but that is another article. However, you can do your best and still lose. It won't be your fault, but it will be your problem. You'll have to replace a customer with another customer, and in recessions, they are not sitting on shelves waiting for you to pull out on a rainy day. You're going to need to advertise.

In good times, some of us are too busy to advertise. In recessions, we've got more time than we need to advertise. By then, we do it as a matter of survival. Or, we cut it, hoping to pick it back up during an upswing. If you take that approach, consider something you may have never thought of during your good times.

Organizations go out of business in peak periods, too.