Advertising Perceptions Inc, released the first in a series of bi-monthly polls tracking confidence of top advertising executives called Advertiser Optimism Reports.

Here’s the surprise.  Cable TV is rising amid the economic uncertainty in the general economy.  While execs are still optimistic about online advertising, significantly fewer of them are predicting increases in spending than the previous survey.  In fact, intentions to increase spend online are declining faster than any other medium.

The report suggests that advertisers are retreating to the safe harbor of TV advertising…particularly cable TV advertising.

Our suspicion is that while all the hype for the past couple of years has focused on online advertising, results haven’t followed as expected.  It’s a truism in today’s society whether you’re talking about Wall Street or Madison Avenue, that bandwagons start fast and drive hard, only to slow when faced with a hill.

If you view marketing as an investment, and we hope you do, then you hold your investment accountable for a return.  Marketers race to the newest best thing, only to come back to the reality that there is no silver bullet.  Only creativity, persistance and intelligence.

1. Are you trying to survive the recession or thrive in the recession?
2. Do you think sales will go up by cutting your marketing budget?
3. Do you want your competitor to gain the market share you’ve worked so hard to build?
4. Do you not believe that companies that maintain their marketing budget during a recession gain ground on companies that cut their budget?
5. Is it riskier to grow market share, stay the same, or shrink?
6. Are you going to get a bigger bonus because sales declined than you would if sales increased?
7. Where on your resume will you put a budget cut as a marketing accomplishment?
8. Are parts of your marketing plan ineffective?
9. Will you lose your job if you don’t?

Okay, if you’ll lose your job, cut. If parts of your marketing plan are ineffective, we should talk. But the path to being a marketing hero leads us to have courage in these stressful times. If you do have to cut you budget, we have a way to help you do that and salvage effectiveness. We call it Budget 2.0. It’s a planning session that turns marketing plans upside down and looks for breakthroughs. We’d love to take you through it. Give me a call at (515) 244-4456 or e-mail me.