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the power of the economy

With all the fearmongering going on right now about how awful the economy is, one thing that a lot of people forget is that it comes and goes. Like everything in our existence, the economy goes in cycles, pendulum swings if you will.

Unfortunately, one of the first things that companies do during a tight economy is cut their spending on marketing. This is a mistake — what you really need to do is figure out what performs well, and spend more money there. Spend your marketing dollars wisely, and the returns are spectacular, even in what appears to be a frightening economy. This might be a newspaper ad, a broadcast piece, a web site, flyers on your neighbors’ doors. Whatever works is where you should concentrate your energy. If it doesn’t perform well, dump it.

It’s the fear that gets us: on these reports of a bad economy, people (and companies) react by tightening their belts and reducing their spending. But it’s that very reaction that further slows the economy. We can all help keep it greased by continuing to spend money where it’s necessary. Even in flush times, we should not be stupid, because like all good things, that too must come to an end.

By Rebekkah Hilgraves

*RadHaus Solutions*: ActiveCampaign Certified Consultant. Marketo Certified Expert. Solutions Architect. Marketing automation implementation, integration, best practices, governance. Marketing automation, with a heavy dose of nerd. http://radhaus.solutions

*RadHaus Studio*: Broadcast and recording engineer, media production manager, cable monkey, marketing dork, project manager, chief cook and bottle-washer. http://radhaus.studio

A seasoned trainer, marketer, web producer and front-end developer, solutions architect, writer, consultant, broadcaster, recording engineer, and public speaker, I've worked in eLearning, Instructional Design, CMS, Marketing Automation and CRM (especially Marketo, ActiveCampaign, and SimplyCast), content delivery and management, taxonomy, SEO, media production and technical support. I bring a unique blend of experience and expertise.

Through RadHaus (formerly SheTech and Company), and in partnership with ELK // Obscura Media, and Prove digital marketing agencies, I have supported enterprise clients in marketing automation implementation and operations, digital marketing and data strategies. I help design and operationalize custom integrated marketing programs for businesses, working with audience/user group segmentation, SEO, web analytics, design and UX best practices, multimedia, social media and other strategic web design and delivery mechanisms. I also do hands-on media production and arts marketing, allowing me to remain involved in the arts.

As part of Marketo's education team, I managed the production and publication of eLearning modules, and was a key member of the LMS implementation and certification development teams.

A consultant on the Web Operations team for OppenheimerFunds in New York, I offered technical, production, and strategy support on a major web site redesign project.

As Managing Editor for an online news magazine published by NetQoS, I supervised and managed the migration of the site from a legacy content management system to a .NET-based commercial system. I maintained the site and the content, updating the magazine with new content from industry analysts and technical experts on a weekly basis.

My earliest foray into both technology and training was as a software trainer for logistics company Cheetah Software Systems, helping create an implementation and training practice standard for the company, and building their user documentation.