Crisis! Why invest in advertising at this time?

There is a crisis! A pandemic virus is affecting the entire population. Companies are laying off employees and are running low on money. They are trying to save money wherever they can. There are various restrictions. Work procedures are changing, and companies are trying to become more efficient and so on and so forth…

We probably don’t need to delve into things that may be the cause of corporate crises. The purpose of this article is not to focus on the worst-case scenarios, and it’s definitely not a political article, but you probably have an idea of what we mean.

When we set aside political, social, natural, or other uncontrollable factors, we are left with one logical question that every business owner or entrepreneur will likely ask themselves during a crisis: "How do we get out of this crisis?"

Naturally, people seek solutions, and no matter what state a company is in during a crisis or what methods they try, most companies tend to resort to one option.

"We don't have enough money. We need to cut costs and start saving!"

"And when we save, where should we do it?"

"Should we cut budgets in marketing? Should we lay off people in production? Should we reduce wages? Where should we save? Should we even save?" That's the question.

To answer this question, let's take a look at one area that is essential for a company's survival in any circumstance because whether a company manufactures cars, sells electronics, or provides translation services, they will always face this:

"How can we get more customers to buy from us?"

In reality, there is one area of the company that should not be cut back during a crisis but instead should be increased even more. Don't take it out of the equation.

"That area is marketing. Promoting your products and services."

Of course, marketing alone won't solve the crisis for you. Once you have found more customers, you logically need to process a larger amount of accumulated products, work, shipments, etc. Of course, you can't continue without people in production.

In normal, non-pandemic and non-crisis times, it's natural for a company to promote its services to let customers know about them to encourage them to buy if possible.

But what should you do when there is a crisis? You may have already heard the famous quote from Henry Ford: "If I had only one dollar left, I would spend it on advertising."

"In fact, the right solution during a crisis is massive promotion, and promoting means getting products or services into the public consciousness."

Why should you promote heavily during a crisis?

Let's take the example of baker Pepa, who built a successful bakery during his lifetime. Everyone in the village can't speak highly enough about his rolls and baguettes. Unfortunately, life circumstances forced him to move his successful bakery to a city hundreds of kilometers away. There's just one catch. No one knows about him in the new city. Suddenly, he's starting all over again. He has to build "business familiarity." Will he be as popular as he was in the previous city the next day? Probably not. Will there be lines forming outside his bakery? Probably not either. Pepa suddenly finds himself in "crisis." Is there anything wrong with his rolls and baguettes, or his bakery? No, there isn't.

The only thing preventing his survival is that people in the new city don't know about him. Pepa hasn't started promoting yet. He hasn't gone to the pub and told the locals that he opened a new bakery and that they'll find the best rolls in town there. Nobody knows about him, so he's experiencing a crisis because he's starting from scratch.

"You will always experience a crisis when no one knows what your company does. The way out of a crisis is to make yourself known, to promote yourself."

Notice the interesting paradox: when companies experience a crisis and the market contracts, everyone waits to see what will happen. At that moment, your competition begins to withdraw from the market. Therefore, the doors are open for you to be better seen. Take advantage of this opportunity and start to be seen.

"The one who promotes during a crisis is visible among the competition."

It's interesting that when companies are doing well and there is no crisis, they pour hundreds of thousands to millions into promotion, marketing, and advertising. Everyone saves money when a crisis comes, even though they should be doing the exact opposite.

Now let's look at another paradox: When companies are generally doing well and there is no crisis, promoting and fighting for the first place among competitors who are also pouring huge amounts into advertising actually has a lower probability of success than when there is a crisis and your competition has withdrawn from the market. Think about it.

A crisis is not an excuse for waiting, a crisis is actually an opportunity for action. Be visible and sell more products and services than ever before. Yes, you may need to change a few things in your marketing, maybe you need to change your approach to customers, maybe your way of communication, but you have a real chance to succeed during a crisis.

If you're looking for new ways to promote or advertise your marketing campaign, one effective solution could be animated ads that we create at Leaf Animation tailored to your needs.

We create various types of animated videos for promotion:

• Popular explainer videos are a very effective marketing tool for any company that wants to let people know who they are and what they do, whether they're just starting out or even after 10 years on the market.
• Product animations of your products effectively present what you are currently selling.
• Another option is the increasingly popular animated stories on social media. These short animations often complement an ongoing campaign, such as on television.

Contact us for a non-binding consultation of your idea. We'll be happy to help you with your first animated ad. Promotion doesn't always have to be expensive. When you promote smartly, it can also be done inexpensively.