Advertising tip-don't stop advertising

[deannatroupe]

Often when we are in a tough economy such as this one people tend to slash the advertising budget. That is not a good idea. Advertising is the lifeblood of your business.  If you stop advertising you definitely will not make any sales and your business will not flourish. You may need to cut back in some other areas but do not slash your advertising budget during times such as these.

[Rusty]

This is certainly true, but sometimes it is hard. When the times are tough, we have less money, and we do not see considerable results from advertising, we are naturally tempted to cut the costs. Sometimes there is just no money for it, period.

[Fardreamer]

This is one of the biggest arguments I've had with friends who have tried to do their own businesses:  You must set aside some money for advertising, otherwise your business will more than likely fail.

A case in point, years ago a friend of the family's decided to start a carpet and flooring business.  At first, because he had talked about his "dream" with a few well-off friends, he had some luck getting clients; he and his crew did good work and his small company actually flourished for a while.

However, he WAS competing with established carpet-and-flooring companies such as Harry Rich and Dolphin Carpet and Tile, which ran ads in print media and on TV and radio.  I suggested to our friend that he buy ads in newspapers at first then maybe later invest in over-the-air ads.  He said that was too expensive and too much of a hassle as well as a huge gamble.  Bad move, because after he finished alll the jobs he had gotten through his personal connections, he was outmaneuvered by the competition - especially on big bids like with the local school board and hotels.  He and his company went Chapter 11 within five years.

[cogbuddy]

It is true that one must not stop giving advertisement for his products. Else people may forget the product and may switch over to a new one. Also the strategy of advertising must be changed in tough situations like this. Think different to capture the hearts and am sure business can be good even during the crisis.

[deannatroupe]

You have all made excellent points.  That is why I think it is so vitally important to learn how to market your business online.  It is so much cheaper to do it that way than it is to use traditional forms of advertising. Truthfully, it's my strategy to make the online advertising work before I start looking at offline methods of advertising.

[Fardreamer]

I think that advertising, whether it's online or offline, is a very important tool in order to be able to run a business these days.  As I said in my first post here, lots of too-confident first-time business owners believe they can start an enterprise without investing in ads of any type, thinking that word-of-mouth, luck, or several select clients will compensate for the lack of visibilility, be it on the Net, in print media, or the airwaves.  And for the most part, those business owners almost always fail within 1 year of opening their doors.