Thursday, 31 July 2008

Credit Crunch - How should businesses react?

It may be tempting to cut back on advertising at a time when the press is making a big issue about credit crunch and recession. But I'd like to draw your attention to the findings of the Press Association, who have conducted significant surveys which concluded that those businesses who advertise during adverse times benefit far more in the long term than those who do not.

In other words, the company that chooses to reduce their advertising during a period of economic downturn (okay, we can call it recession) will see a drop in it's market share whilst those businesses who press on with advertising will gain that market share once the recession passes.

So the key thing to underline here is that advertising during the recession period does not guarantee an uplift in sales during the recession, but it does clearly demonstrate gain in market share when the economy recovers and that means more business.

There are many issues that arise from this of course, the major one for smaller businesses is can they actually afford to advertise, especially when other bills are rising, such as rental costs and fuel and energy costs. Fair enough! You can't expect to cover everything and you need your business to survive in the first place, but if you do have flexibility to continue or even increase advertising then now is a good time to do it.

Tuesday, 29 July 2008

For business contacts try 4Networking

Join us at the Caerphilly 4N every other Friday morning from 8am at the Crossways Inn, Caerphilly.

Funny Pictures

If you're stuck in the rain this summer, why not visit B3TA.com for a bit of fun.
Lots of amusing things to see, plenty of visual jokes (though beware, some of them can be a bit rude!)

Community Times Main Website

Visit our main website for details of what's happening around the are and in the City of Cardiff for the next month.

You can also see a directory of our local businesses and sponsors.

Your chance to give us feedback!

I'm starting this blogspace to give you good folks the chance to provide some valued feedback on how we can improve the magazine and bring additional features or articles to you each month.

For example, I'm piloting a new 'fun' page which is intended to be interactive, so if you have a funny story, some cool jokes or even just some amazing pictures, send them in!

The Community Times is a magazine for YOU, so please let us know what we can do to make it a better experience for you.