Marketing by association in a challenging economy
In the recession there is more pressure and scrutiny on marketing. No problem there. Marketing should prove its worth helping brands navigate these turbulent times retaining customers, maintaining margins or canvassing for new profitable business. Easy to say but harder to do when faced with pressure to cut costs too. As the Managing Director of a leading consumer business told me recently, “I may have to lose people but the [marketing] work still needs doing”.
At the outset associate marketing was an effective approach for growing businesses to plug a “capability gap” in their marketing. Today that appeal is growing with new interest in associate marketing as a flexible model for recessionary times.
None of our current clients came to us because of the recession but they appreciated the in-house approach without the in-house overhead. The need for flexibility is here to stay and we believe a rental model for quality marketing will help more businesses succeed through difficult times.