In recent months, I have heard from a number of readers and advertisers that their copy of Credit Union Times is looking a little thin. Well, there is a recession going on, and thin is in for the time being.
As the eternal optimist, I prefer the glass half-full viewpoint and point out that you are still getting all the news every week, and we will continue to kill trees to deliver each news-filled issue faithfully.
Savvy advertisers have capitalized on the smaller issues by staying the course with their ad programs and, in several instances, increasing their ad marketing to take advantage of a larger footprint in the magazine. This is brilliant marketing but don't take my word for it.
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In 1923, a Harvard Business Review report of 200 companies showed the largest sales increases were reported by companies that advertised the most during that recessionary year.
In 1949, 1954, 1958 and 1961, Buchen Advertising Inc. tracked a large number of business-to-business companies where sales and profits dropped off. Almost without exception, those companies cut back on advertising. Post recession, those companies continued to lag behind companies that maintained their advertising budgets.
In 1985, McGraw Hill Research found that those firms that maintained or increased their advertising expenditures "averaged significantly higher sales growth" during the three years following the recession compared to those that eliminated or decreased advertising. Firms that maintained or increased their advertising "could boast an average sales growth of 275% over the preceding five years."
American Business Media research published this year found that "companies who continued or aggressively increased their advertising efforts during times of economic uncertainly experienced overall growth of their business at the expense of their competition who chose to cut back or cancel their marketing efforts."
Same results over the past 86 years!
Visionaries are shaking the trees a bit to wake up the rest of you waiting for the next train to advertising success. To quote Ernie Capadino (from A League of Their Own), "Are you coming?
See, how it works is, the train moves, not the station." Don't get left behind.
–Thomas R. Greve
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