As business owners, if we had a dollar for every time we’ve heard someone tell us that his or her best piece of advice (for thriving in a recession or stalled economy) is to raise the marketing budget, and spend more, then we would not have to pop an antacid after checking our 401(k)s and watching what the consequence of spending right now may be.

While it is not smart to stop your marketing, watch where you put your marketing budget dollars and be sure to measure everything spent. Metrics have now become even more relevant. There are inherent risks in holding the marketing budget steady and even more to cutting it all together. When businesses stay in “safe mode,” budget cuts are common. In contrast, risk taking

companies take advantage of every opportunity to solidify and build a stronger brand. In fact, some companies are increasing their lead in the marketplace by spending more on marketing, which may be the wiser thing to do.

No matter what the condition of the economy, the buyer target, the brand’s positioning, the ad copy and execution, and the media vehicles (a specific print or electronic medium used in an advertising campaign) are more important than the budget in driving revenues. In a recession or stalled economy, put a hold on spending more money on marketing communications if you don’t have all your strategic elements lined up. Once the strategic elements are in order, a focus on a great strategy can be put in place with metrics set up to test market and measure the results. Have the metrics in place for at least six months before deciding to keep the strategy or pull it. My practice is to question anything and measure everything.

Try looking at marketing channels such as social media as it is low cost and represents the future of marketing.  While other marketing channels are looking at cutbacks, social networking and electronic media is on a growth path due to being cost effective and it works!  It represents the future of marketing.

Compared to a typical advertising campaign, article writing, blogs, social networking, forums, wikis and other tools are incredibly inexpensive to implement and administer, ranging in price from free to economical if  managed correctly.

In addition to low costs, social media platforms have been proven to get results that can't be realized with other marketing media. Many traditional marketing communications are 99.9% geared towards boosting awareness of a brand and its products or services. During a flat or stalled economy, simply building awareness loses its effectiveness as the average consumer is less likely to jump from brand awareness to purchasing behavior. 

Social networking tools step beyond awareness to actual engagement with the consumer. Global giants such as Electronic Arts, Dell, AT&T and others have come to realize that customers remain customers 50 percent longer if they are community members than if not. During flat or stalled times, deep engagement with a target audience is much more likely to result in customer evangelists and increased sales versus just brand awareness. 

Companies that slash their social networking investments during a flat or stalled economy do so at their own peril. No matter how the economic outlook is, consumer’s behavior will continue to move away from traditional media to this new way of reaching out to one’s target audience.

his is particularly true if Gen Y is your target audience, those between the ages of 18 and 27. This generation is incredibly Internet savvy and live in the social computing universe on a full-time basis. They are consistently creating content on top of other’s content and expect to be heard. The companies that attract this generation the best are those that understand and keep up with social computing trends. Gen Y consumers may be a small percentage of your target audience today, but they will grow in significance over the next 10 to 20 years.

Today's economic outlooks will come and go. By refocusing your cinched marketing budget on channels that provide the biggest return and can actually measure a return on investment, also known as ROI, (i.e., social computing tools and business intelligence software), the impact of your digital marketing spent will set you up for rapid growth and position you ahead of your competition.