What usually happens as the economy slows down is the universally-feared “belt-tightening”. Companies go through their budgets line by line and see what can be shrunk and cut. This is how you get layoffs and overall contraction. In an attempt to stay afloat, people “circle the wagons” and hope to wait it out until the general economy bounces back. But, you have to be careful not to throw out the baby with the bathwater.

One of the best ways to weather challenging economic times is to increase your marketing and sales budget. Let me say that again from another angle. Decreasing your marketing and sales budget is a bad idea. Every company’s fate is determined by its revenue. Not only for their profits, but revenue is the source of the cash flow necessary to operate on a day-to-day basis. No revenue, no cash flow, no business. What brings revenue in? The sales of its products and services. The more sales, the more revenue. That’s why companies market themselves in the first place.

It might be harder to get sales in a slower economy, which is why marketing efforts need to be increased instead of pulled back. It also means that being prudent with your spending is critical. This is why analyzing your advertising and marketing becomes so important. The companies that ruthlessly track the ROI of their marketing, and are willing to pump more funds into the avenues that work, are the ones that will survive and thrive. This, by the way, also applies to selling when the economy is booming. The only difference is that a good economy is much more forgiving to sloppy marketing efforts while a slow economy leaves no room for error.

Where can you find the money for increased marketing as business slows? There should be belt-tightening, but make sure the right areas are tightened. This is not the time to go out and buy a new office phone system or the newest tech gadget. Are the “business dining and entertainment” budget too high (and does it really have a good return)? This is a great time to reexamine fixed expenses. Remember, they are called fixed because they are generally fixed in the short term, but that doesn’t mean they can’t change. A couple of minutes of chatting with the phone or insurance company can often lead to unknown savings (if not, try shopping around – other companies are going to be aggressively looking for business). Approach the landlord to renegotiate rent – they would rather have a lower-paying tenant than no tenant at all.

The trick here, though, is don’t touch your marketing budget – in fact, find ways to increase it. If the economy was good you wouldn’t decrease it, so why does it seem like something that would work in a bad economy. Let the competition slow their marketing efforts (and many wills). As they do less, your increased efforts will bring more clients to you – not only now, but in the future.

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