When the economy starts making headlines for the wrong reasons, the knee-jerk reaction from many businesses is to pull back.
And fair enough – tightening the belt makes sense. But for some reason, “cut marketing” is always top of the list, right up there with cancelling the office coffee subscription (although we think Gab might stop functioning if we did that).
Here’s the problem. When you stop marketing, people stop seeing you. You might save money in the short term, but long term? You’re handing ground to your competitors on a silver platter.
Rather than slashing your entire marketing spend and hoping things blow over, it’s far more effective to shift your focus. Look at what still delivers value without draining your budget. Two strategies still doing the heavy lifting right now are SEO (search engine optimisation) and GEO (generative engine optimisation).
SEO is your slow burner. It doesn’t make noise straight away, but it’s the reason people find your business when they’re ready to buy. Good content, written with actual humans in mind, still wins. Google’s bots are smarter than ever, and they know when you’re trying to bluff your way to the top. So don’t bluff – be helpful, be specific and answer the questions your customers are typing in at 10:47pm with a cup of tea and a problem to solve.
Then there’s GEO targeting. This is about being precise. If your audience is mostly within a 30-mile radius, there’s no point wasting budget targeting the entire country. Location-based content, localised ads and search terms like “near me” make a real difference – especially for service businesses. The more relevant you are, the more likely people are to act.
When the outlook is unpredictable, visibility matters more – not less. If your competitors are going quiet, this is your moment to be louder in the places that count.
Want help making your budget work harder?
At Engage Web, we help businesses stay visible, even when the market isn’t playing nice. If you need SEO that sticks and targeting that actually converts, we’re the team to speak to – so let’s talk.
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