Building Brand Equity in Tough Times

Any time senior executives hear the distant rumbling of thunder in the economy the financial lifeguards usually shout, "Everybody out of the marketing pool!"

But savvy marketers know that the very best time to gain advantage against competitors is during a recession. Yet marketing and communications spending is often the first thing to go under the knife at the signs of trouble. This makes no sense.

We might not be in a recession quite yet. But its still a good idea to understand what one needs to do to build brand equity should rough times loom on the economic horizon.

1. Benchmark your market position today so you will know how changes in the economy are impacting your brand/company as well as the competition.
2. Follow up with tracking waves of research tied to your business goals and conducted on a regular basis to identify progress and the precise contribution made by marketing.
3. Communicate with your senior management before the downturn about the need for and benefits of consistent spending throughout an economic downturn. Let them know specifically what you will need and what you expect to accomplish.
4. Position the downturn as a "golden opportunity" to increase market share over competitors.
5. Streamline your focus to put more emphasis on marketing activities that you know works and less emphasis on marginal or experimental activities.
6. Identify the potential ROI you expect to capture by spending resources wisely in a down market. Don't forget ROI comes in two forms – increased revenue and increased market capitalization.

Without question the best way to build brand equity is clear, concise and consistent communications over a long period of time. One of the quickest ways to lose brand equity is by erratic communications.

Starting and stopping campaigns can be a disaster. If your senior management tends to be reactive, you might want to get out in front of the issue before a recession hits and educate them on the benefits of consistent branding vs. the perils of erratic branding.

The brand you save could be your own.

Jim Gregory is CEO of CoreBrand. He can be contacted at jgregory@corebrand.com