[/caption]Marketing is an interesting business when times get stormy. I've been doing this for awhile (okay, forever) so I've been through a few downturns and emerged with my company battered but intact. In the process, I've learned a few things, usually a bit late and always after a good deal of capital, both monetary and intellectual, has washed away.
What I've learned in general:
-Some companies will cut marketing budgets. Very few of the best companies will eliminate marketing budgets.
-Some types of marketing look smarter than others in a downturn - we've talked about this before - informative, feedback-based, solid, non-hype-y outreach is the way to go now.
What I've learned each time the economy has tanked since my 1979 college graduation:
-1979: I should have learned to type and skipped Tufts entirely.
-1987: Having too many of one type of client (commercial real estate development, in this instance) means that when that industry crashes, my firm may get as much as zero cents on the dollar. As, in fact, was the case. Urk.
-2001-2002: Oh, my my. Were we ever overstaffed! Were we ever too slow to downsize! And were we ever interested to see we could do as much work AND make as much money, with fewer people. Wow.
-2008: Panic is ridiculous. The markets are getting carried away now. Innocent people are selling their 401 (k)s and locking in huge losses. But I'm betting that, by about this time next year, we'll have a reasonably stable, reasonably prosperous economy again. There's too much government intervention, all over the world, to repeat 1929.
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