Recession: a great time to steal market share

Your rivals are slashing their ad spending.Consider the
opportunity.

In effect, they are leaving the field of battle – the mind
of the consumer – to whoever is willing to take it.

If you have the money (and maybe the bravado), now
is your chance to capture, on the cheap, what you’ll pay
dearly for at a later date – market share. Here’s why.

More consumers are viewing more media

Consumers are cutting back on shopping, travel,
entertainment. They are spending more time indoors in
activities that don’t incur high costs. That means more
time viewing the television screen (broadcast, cable,
video-on-demand, DVDs, the Web) and the printed page
(magazines, newspapers, novels).

More viewers, but fewer ads

While consumers are spending more time viewing media,
marketers are cutting back on the number of ads they give
them to view. Fewer ads are placed, so there are fewer ads
to clutter the environments in which those ads appear. Ads
that are placed have a better chance of being noticed and
understood.

Less cost to reach these viewers

When a lot of advertisers reduce their buying, it creates a
lot of unsold inventory at media outlets. To meet revenue
goals, media are reducing their rates — up to 30% in some
Georgia markets.

Grab a bigger share of mind and market

Sales is the most critical roI metric. And, though marketers
who continue advertising in a recession will capture a
greater share of fewer sales, roI will suffer.

However, an increase in mind share results in an increase in
market share. And, a larger mind share gained in a depressed
market turns into a larger market share when the market expands.

An advertising message is like a walk through an unspoiled field
of grass. Walked through only once or twice, the path soon will
be lost. But, walking the path over and over makes it the
preferred route.

Marketers who keep delivering their message establish their paths
for the coming rebound.

Credits to Mark Dominiak and TelevisionWeek, Jan. 9, 2009
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Haynes Marketing Network is a full-service marketing and advertising agency
in Macon, Ga. 478-742-5266 http://www.haynesmarketing.com/