Why Cutting Your Marketing Budget Might be the Most Costly Decision You Make this Year.

Smart Brands Double Down on Marketing During a Downturn

Guess which business has been advertising...

When the economy tightens, the first instinct for many business owners is to pull back on marketing. Budgets shrink, ad campaigns pause, and creative projects get postponed “until things improve.”

But history and data tell a very different story: the companies that maintain or increase their marketing presence during a downturn don’t just survive; they leapfrog their competitors once recovery begins.

Now, as many industries wade through the mostly bad weather of the 2025-2026 economy, this is the time to play contrarian and win. Remember: marketing is often more costly than the actual product or service a business sells for a reason - it is just a constant arms race against the competition to stay front-and-center before your consumer base to capture as many sale conversions as possible.

To succeed at this game (the only game it has ever really been - getting noticed first, and then being able to make sales), a business must be in it to win it. So, you can see how bowing out of view can backfire - potential customers may think the business that stopped advertising went bankrupt, or worse yet, they may simply forget about them in favor of the businesses that kept advertising or even ramped up their marketing during a downturn.

The Hidden Advantage of Staying Visible

When others go silent, attention becomes cheaper. Ad costs drop. Competition for digital reach thins out. Viewers scroll a little longer, looking for confidence and leadership in uncertain times.

If your business continues showing up, consistently, confidently, and creatively, then your business instantly will stand out.

That doesn’t mean reckless spending. It means strategic investment in brand presence, storytelling, and clarity when your competitors are disappearing from view. This is similar to the contrarian investing mantra of "buy when there's blood in the streets" (Baron Rothschild's words, not mine - but, essentially, he meant "be greedy when everyone else is scared.")

Real Estate & Multifamily: Keep Showing, Keep Leasing

In real estate, the instinct to freeze advertising can be costly.

  • REO and property agents who keep marketing foreclosures and listings maintain their client pipelines while others go dormant. REO listings stack up in harder times, so being the brokerage that not only has lots of listings, but also does well at marketing them to buyers is a recipe for coming out stronger than the other brokerages when rates come back down, jobs start getting created again, and people are once again ready to buy homes (or at least sign new leases in rentals).

  • Apartment owners who continue showcasing available units, through high-quality video tours and lifestyle storytelling, will capture the renters making life transitions during uncertain times. This also looks fantastic to potential multifamily investors to see that your asset looks amazing on video, for one, but also has lots of marketable traits both on-site and related to the location, which could bring about plenty of investor attention if you decided to sell the property. Good investors know the regions and product types (core, core-plus, value-add, Class A,B,C, urban, suburban, etc.) and watch them for opportunities, so even if you are not planning to sell yet, having a good looking marketing presence (and the low vacancy rate that comes with that) will be a surefire way to get quick offers from investors the day you decide to sell - or maybe even before.

Anyway, this is all easy to understand in real estate. People still move. They change jobs, downsize, or relocate for affordability. The landlords and agents who stay visible are the ones they find first.

Video marketing, especially when paired with localized SEO/AEO, remains one of the most cost-effective ways to reach these active movers. A single high-quality community video can keep generating leads for months, even in a slow market. That sounds much better than having to offer two months of rent concessions several times a year, now, doesn't it?

Beyond Real Estate: The Power of Presence



The same principle applies across industries:

  • Cafés and local retailers can use short, authentic videos to highlight new offerings, community roots, or customer loyalty stories.

  • Consultants, fitness coaches, martial arts schools, and service professionals can film “insight” or testimonial videos to maintain authority and remind clients they’re still thriving.

  • Tech startups and B2B firms can show momentum when others are quiet. That signals resilience to investors and clients alike.

When everyone else looks afraid, confidence becomes a brand differentiator. The beauty is, the name of the game is reaching and making an emotional impact. That can be done in many different ways, and tailored to different budget situations by a marketing consultant who knows how.

The Psychology of Contrarian Marketing

Think of marketing during a downturn as buying market share at a discount. The intrinsic value of garnering attention from your consumer base remains the same - but now the financial cost is more favorable to you, the advertiser. Here's why...

Fewer advertisers means lower CPMs, cheaper clicks, and higher organic visibility. Your cost per impression drops, while your share of voice rises.

And once the economy rebounds, you’ve already occupied that valuable real estate in your audience’s mind. You don’t need to fight to be remembered because you never left.

Why Now Is the Best Time for Video Marketing

Video is still the most powerful medium to humanize your brand and tell stories that build trust. In a cautious economy, people want to see who they’re doing business with. Pairing video with an active testimonial/feedback system and social media is very effective (and very feasible) for most SMBs. Top that trust building and "show don't just tell" methodology with savvy offers that are too good to pass up, and you will maximize your chances of prospering even in bad economic times. Let's break it down...

A short, well-made video can:

  • Build credibility faster than any static ad,

  • Increase conversions on your website,

  • Boost engagement on social media, and

  • Strengthen SEO & AEO with longer dwell times.

TSZ Enterprises specializes in cost-efficient, high-ROI video campaigns tailored to your current goals. Whether you need to lease apartments, sell real estate, or keep your business of any niche top-of-mind while others go quiet, there's a solution for you. Doing anything to market to your consumer base is always better than doing nothing, after all.

The Bottom Line

Economic slowdowns aren’t just challenges: they’re filters. They reveal which businesses understand the long game.

The ones who stay visible now will be the first names remembered later.

So before cutting back on your marketing, ask:

  • What if this is my best chance to be noticed while everyone else goes dark?
  • Is not advertising, just to save on OpEx this quarter, going to make my business' situation better or worse six months from now?
  • What is the cost of not reaching interested and capable buyers right now, and is that cost higher than the price of a video marketing campaign? 

The TSZ Enterprises AdVantage:
Smart, creative, data-informed video marketing for real estate and small-to-medium businesses ready to outthink the downturn.

Let’s talk: Effective video marketing that will get you results without breaking the bank is available to you.

www.traviszeiler.com/consulting (or www.traviszeiler.com/consulting/real-estate for owners of SFR and MFR real estate, as well as brokers)

Disclaimer

The content on this blog is provided for informational and educational purposes only. While TSZ Enterprises makes every effort to ensure accuracy and usefulness, the material is not tailored to your unique circumstances and does not constitute professional, legal, medical, financial, or tax advice.

Information on this site does not create a professional-client relationship between you and TSZ Enterprises. If you require personalized guidance, please seek the services of a qualified professional in the relevant field.

All use of the blog’s information is entirely at your own risk. TSZ Enterprises expressly disclaims any liability for any damages or losses resulting from your reliance on the content provided here or on third-party links. While we aim to keep content current, we make no guarantee of completeness or accuracy.

*Going viral is never a guaranteed outcome, just to present a realistic expectation.

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