Why now isn't the time to reduce your marketing spend

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:: 00:01

In unpredictable, economic times, many businesses look to reduce costs. And we're certainly living in unpredictable times right now, but is it wise to reduce your marketing spend? Right now I'm Janet Murray. I'm a content and online business strategist. And in this episode of the courageous content podcast, I share my thoughts on why you should think twice before, which is in your marketing spend.

:: 00:23

Even in unpredictable economic times, This is a bit of a sensitive topic, but I've seen a few online business owners talking about this recently. So my sense is it, isn't just me feeling this way, but I'm seeing lots of business owners who seem cautious about investing in marketing training and support for their business right now, or certainly it feels like more than usual.

:: 00:50

And I'm recording this in April, 2022, by the way. And if you're feeling like that right now, I totally get it. There is a lot of scary stuff going on in the world at the moment, food and energy prices are rising. There's reports about an impending recession, but does an unpredictable economic climate mean you should stop investing in the training and support you need to grow your business?

:: 01:17

In my opinion, absolutely not. But it's what some business owners seem to be doing. For example, I was having a conversation with a friend who wants to start using email marketing to promote their events because social media isn't getting them the results that they need. Their email list is small, but it's actually pretty engaged. And when they do send out emails,

:: 01:38

they almost always make sales. They just want to know how to make more, to be a bit more strategic about them, but they are scared to invest even a few hundred pounds in getting better at email marketing when they could easily make that money back in a couple of emails, they could also save months trying to figure out stuff. An expert could teach them in a few hours and make thousands more in the long run.

:: 02:04

So not investing in further training support could potentially actually lose them revenue. I'm sharing this in April 20th, 2010, because I do know it can feel scary to invest in training and support for your business when things seem unpredictable. But actually it's times like now, when we ought to be thinking about how we can invest more in the right training and support for our businesses,

:: 02:28

and while you appetite for risk in business can impact your growth. So I've got a podcast episode on that, which I'll link to in the show notes. I'm not talking here about taking silly risks, buying online programs you don't need, but in unpredictable, economic times, investing in high quality products or services that help you implement things. You don't know how to do or need to do better in your business and do it fast.

:: 02:54

Well, actually it's a smart thing to do. And it's actually what big businesses do. Pega Cola and Singapore airlines are just to have a number of big brands mentioned in a Harvard business review article on this topic by two leading Moxy academics. I'll link to it in the show notes because big brands will often actually increase their marketing, spend drawing unpredictable economic times.

:: 03:19

What you can do at times right now is look at how you can support your own customers or clients more perhaps by offering payment plans or easier ways for people to pay you and offering any additional advice or resources that you can, but you certainly shouldn't be panicking and slashing your own prices and investing in the right marketing, training and support should be a priority rather than something you're putting to one side and looking at the areas in your business where,

:: 03:50

you know, you need to grow and where you know that investing in training and support will have an impact on the bottom line. If your business well, investing in training and support in those areas is actually a smart thing to do. What's not smarts is investing months trying to figure out stuff. Someone else could show you in a few hours or even do for you because that's actually going to cost you more money in the long run.

:: 04:17

In the case of the friend that I talked about earlier, and this is a friend, not somebody connected to business, not investing a relatively small amount in the right training and support could actually cost them thousands in the long run. So if you having feeling a bit nervous or fearful about investing in marketing training or support for your business, I hope this has given you a helpful reframe as ever.

:: 04:42

I do love hearing from you. And the best place to connect with me is over on Instagram. That's Jan Murray, UK.