29 Nov Don’t Stop Marketing Now!
Should you be marketing your company during a global crisis? That was a question on the minds of business owners in March of 2020. It was a fair question to ask when the world was shutting down to try to stop the spread of a pandemic. And it’s a question some business leaders are still asking while dealing with supply chain issues and pockets of the Delta variant of COVID-19.
I run a content marketing agency that owns two television networks and one radio network. The past 19-months have been a roller coaster for our business. The first reaction for most of our advertisers was to pull back or stop all marketing efforts. We hit new revenue lows in the second quarter of 2020.
As more and more people were home all day, that meant more and more people were watching TV. When the government started pumping money into the economy, viewers started ordering more and more products for delivery. We saw a record Q3 in 2020 and a decent Q4. This year started off strong with more record sales in Q2 and Q3, but that all started to change in the fourth quarter.
The influx in product buys during the pandemic has exposed flaws in our nation’s supply chain. Images of boats sitting out in the Pacific Ocean with millions of dollars in supplies seem like a scene out of a movie. But the backlog is creating issues in industries across the board, including media.
Some have decided it’s best to pull advertising back, rather than collecting more orders they cannot fulfill. But is that the right move?
To be clear, Centerpost Media doesn’t have a supply issue. We create the products we sell our clients. But our clients are suffering, not able to fulfill orders fast enough. Some have decided it’s best to pull advertising back, rather than collecting more orders they cannot fulfill. But is that the right move?
In business, every obstacle leads to opportunities. During the Great Depression, dry cereal giant General Mills decided to pull back its advertising. The thought process was no different than what business owners have faced recently. Why spend marketing dollars when customers were not buying the product? Top brass at General Mills decided it was best to cut the marketing budget to help offset the losses.
Kellogg’s had a different strategy. Rather than cut the marketing budget, Kellogg’s decided to increase the budget. It was during this season that the company created Tony the Tiger to promote Frosted Flakes. The thought process was to keep Kellogg’s on the minds of consumers, even if they could not afford to purchase their cereal. The result? Kellogg’s became the number-one dry cereal company in America, and they still hold that title more than 90 years later.
The point of brand advertising is to keep your product on the minds of prospective buyers. When your competition pulls back their marketing, that is a window of opportunity for you to own the space.
Are you dealing with supply issues? Get out in front of the story and use your marketing to express your concern for your customers and how you are addressing their needs. Great Depressions, Pandemics and Supply Chain issues will not last forever, and neither will your business if you stop marketing. It takes time to build brand awareness, so if you are advertising don’t stop the momentum. If you are not currently marketing your company, use this season to start creating momentum that will lead to more sales in the future.
And if you need help with your content marketing, email us at info@cenpostmedia.com and we will be happy to set up a call to discuss your needs.
Scott Miller is the CEO of Centerpost Media, host of the Create. Build. Manage. Show (seen on BizTV, heard on BizTalkRadio, and available wherever you listen to podcasts,) and a member of the Forbes Agency Council, Entrepreneur Leadership Network, and Dallas Business Journal Leadership Trust. You can find Scott on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter via “@scottmillerceo” or on LinkedIn via “@scottmillermedia.” Centerpost Media is a content marketing agency with a vision to help every business they encounter with their media needs by providing outstanding quality, service and value. Centerpost Media is the parent company to BizTV, BizTalkRadio, BizTalkPodcasts and Bizvod.