Why Small Business Should Advertise During Bad Times

Although the economy is starting to show signs of life most businesses are still in  a very conservative mode when it comes to any sort of spending. As anybody will tell you advertising and marketing in general is usually one of the first things to be cut when the paring down of spending begins. Today I had an interesting story come from one of the local business owners here in the town I live in. He has became a good friend and a soon to be customer and frequently gives a lot of solid insight into the mind of the family owned business.

Last night as I made my way home I had driven by his restaurant and was smiling as I saw the parking lot was, and no exaggeration at all, overflowing. I was happy since I know the past 3 months or so have been pretty tough as far as business goes for the Husband and Wife ran restaurant.

Today, out of the blue, he came into the office just to sit and chat and check out the new location. I asked him about the parking lot being filled up and he said that even though he knew better he had shutdown all advertising 4 months back. He said in all his years of running a business he, as many have learned, start spending more on advertising when things slow down but this time he went against his better wisdom and stopped spending and immediately saw the impact.

Well, this past week he had turned it all back on, and now things are back almost to where they were. He advertises in very specific spots (not the newspaper funny enough) and tonight when we went to eat at his fine establishment the parking lot was full again. Great news for him and a lesson to be learned for small businesses that start cutting their awareness campaigns as soon as they need it most.

And as luck would have it we agreed on his package with us as well, good timing I guess.

For more information on why businesses should look at creative ways of advertising check out: Open Letter To Small Business Owners.