When your business hits hard times, you need to find ways to save money, which usually means making cuts. Often, the marketing department is the first area to get cut, which is a huge mistake. In rare cases, slashing costs in the marketing department can have a positive effect. However, it usually makes the problem worse and a lot of businesses struggle to recover.
If you are a woman entrepreneur going through a difficult financial period and you are looking for places to make cuts, here’s why you should stay away from the marketing department.ย
Increasing Revenue Is The Best Way Out Of Trouble
The best way to get yourself out of a tough situation is to increase revenue. If you are making more money, then it will be easy to pay off any debts or even invest in new areas. Marketing is crucial if you want to increase revenue so cutting the budget won’t help at all. It will make things worse because you won’t be able to market your business or attract new customers. You could see your revenue drop and find yourself in a spiral of decline very quickly. The best case scenario is that you stagnate and you end up stuck in the same position you are now. If anything you should be increasing your marketing spend so you can boost revenue and dig yourself out of this hole.
You Can Always Outsource Instead
Instead of cutting your marketing budget, you should think about outsourcing instead. If you have a limited marketing budget, then outsourcing is often the best option because it will provide you with the same results at a fraction of the cost. You can hire a top marketing agency to handle your marketing plans and projects, which means they’re in charge of delivering ROI. When you outsource, you give up some control but an agency can ensure that you save money while still increasing your customer base.
Quality Content Is Important
Great content can attract new customers to your business and it’s also crucial for converting existing leads so they become loyal customers. When you have a good marketing strategy, you will need to deliver great content, but that costs money. This is especially true of things like video content, which is incredibly effective. If you slash your marketing budget, you will have to make compromises on quality and that will impact your bottom line.
You Need To Maintain Your Brand
Whether you are having a good year or bad, your brand should remain the same. Every interaction that people have with your business will impact your reputation and this is what customers base their decisions on. If they think your brand lacks integrity, then they will be unlikely to buy from you again. It’s important to maintain your brand, even during slow periods. A lot of businesses cut their marketing budget and neglect their brand, so they are slowly forgotten about by their customers.
Cutting your marketing budget will reduce your overheads, but it will also cause irreparable damage to your business, so you need to find other ways to make savings.
