Let’s face it – one of the harder conversations to have with an advertiser is in response to “We don’t need to advertise right now, we want to shut our campaign off”. Whether it is because business is slow or too chaotic, it is your job as a consultant is to remind them of WHY they need to advertise in either time to stay top of mind. As we approach the summer months when this conversation seems to be more common, we want to provide you with some helpful tips to crush these conversations!

This WARC report breaks down the age-old question of “What Happens if I Stop Advertising”. See below for some of the key takeaways!

• Despite the acknowledged contribution of advertising to business success, there will always be times when companies respond to financial pressures by going dark

• Evidence suggests that going dark has little impact on brand or business metrics in the short run

• However, longer periods off air will likely damage brand health by weakening the bond with consumers. Longer periods off air will also likely damage a brand’s market share/sales

• Once the decline sets in, it may be hard to reverse. Supporting a brand in other ways may provide some short-run protection, but the best way to ensure long-term brand growth is to maintain ad spend

• The evidence suggests that it is better to maintain than to have to regain key metrics and that requires treating advertising as an investment rather than a cost

• This is especially true in time of recession. Indeed, investing in ad spend in times of recession can bring significant long-run advantage

As always, there will be outside factors that can lead to an advertiser looking to pull budget. Be sure to ask thorough questions to get to the real ‘WHY’ and work with them to help find a solution even in off-season periods.

For more help on overcoming objections, please check out our Navigating Objections Training (includes 3 short example videos) in the Sales Training Resources.