Managing marketing budgets under pressure: how to do more with less

This paper offers advice on how to stretch marketing budgets during times of recession or economic difficulty when there’s increasing pressure from the CEO to do 'more with less'.

Managing marketing budgets under pressure: how to do more with less

Ruth Saunders

INTRODUCTION

In recessions, marketers are often under pressure to ‘do more with less', with CEOs demanding marketing budgets to be cut and yet sales to be maintained. This creates two major challenges for marketers:

  • How to justify the ‘black hole’ of marketing spend, showing how it directly impacts sales and thus generates a valuable return

  • How to reduce spend whilst maintaining sales in both the short-and longer term (when the brand equity decay has kicked in) by identifying which part of the budget should be cut and...

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