I first realised the folly of this approach when I worked as the news editor/advertising copywriter for a local news magazine some years ago.
There were two companies which offered similar types of services in our area and they both booked a full page of advertising in every issue of our magazine and they both had a full page of editorial copy, created by me, to accompany it.
When times got a little tight during a recession one of the advertisers withdrew all of his adverts with immediate effect.
But his rival continued to advertise and, of course, he continued to have his matching full page of advertorial, too.
One day when he was visiting our offices I asked him why he had continued to pay for advertising when his rival hadn't.
He explained it to me like this: "I will always, always scrape together enough money for an advert. Why? Because if you want your business to continue and even prosper, it must continue to be in the eye of the public. In this instance, seen by the readers of your magazine."
I asked him how his rival was doing? He shrugged and said "Well, not too well, to be honest. He's still trading, but I don't know how long for."
I asked him how his own business was doing? "We're doing very well, to be honest. In fact, despite trading conditions not being ideal with the recession, we've noticed an increase in business. Some of them have told us that they thought our rival had gone out of business as they'd not seen their adverts in the magazine for months!"
Eventually his rival did close down. People thought it was due to the recession, but it was due to his refusing to spend any money on advertising.
So, to avoid that fate, remember that spending money on advertising and also on press releases and marketing (even if it might be at a lower level than usual) is important because how will people know that your company is still in business?
(Image courtesy of Gerd Altmann from Pixabay)
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