As unconventional as it sounds, if you’re not investing competitively in branding your product or service, consider dropping your marketing budget to the bottom line.

BUT, if you have the confidence of a branding vision, you can maximize your short-term and long-term return on investment by shouting more loudly than your competition and investing in a down economy.

The Back Part:

Marketers tend to pull back spending at the first signal of the economy weakening. While it was groundbreaking in 1986, the McGraw-Hill Laboratory of Advertising Performance Report 5262, showed that when the economy was down during the 1981 – 1982 recession, brands benefited from an increased share of voice. Not only did brands’ short-term sales increase but companies that maintained or increased their advertising “…could boast an average sales growth of 275 percent over the preceding five years.”

The proliferation of media vehicles and the ability to micro-target via technological solutions makes this study’s findings truer than ever.

As the current economic factors reinforce that this is a correction in some categories and a down cycle in others, now is the time to evaluate:

1. Who in your category is spending and how much; and
2. Is there a business case for your brand to scream more loudly even with a selective investment now?

• Dacor Luxury Appliances, a six-year Domus client, has chosen to promote its latest products at the annual Kitchen & Bath Industry Show this April. With its competitive noise level down, our client will dominate the share of voice among the key specifier and designer audiences. ROI will skyrocket.

The Future Part:

Strategically positioning a brand and ensuring consistency of messaging in all traditional and online communications are paramount to building brand equity. But, unlike in the mid-1980s, the addition of internet marketing as part “glue,” part “measurement system” and part “conversation facilitator” allows you to test and measure to whom and by which media you should be investing in your brand.

Learn from the DeLorean, (one of the most memorable product placements in marketing history) – use the proverbial time machine to capitalize on proven marketing principles from the past. Then deliver them with state-of-the-art mechanisms and measurements that are present, not future, at Domus, Inc.

Oh, and you may want to skip the jail part too. While Martha Stewart made it sing, John DeLorean’s antics had a Lindsay Lohan destruction effect on a promising brand.

If you want to discuss the implications of this, email betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or call me directly at 215-772-2805.  For more information on marketing in a down economy, you can refer to additional Domus blog posts here!

Betty Tuppeny is the CEO and founder of Domus, Inc., a marketing communications agency based in Philadelphia. For more information, visit http://www.domusinc.com. For new business inquiries, please contact Betty directly at betty.tuppeny@domusinc.com or 215-772-2805.

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