I was reading through the trade publication Campaign this week when I noticed something alarming.

“Adspend takes hit after Brexit vote” was the headline.

Depressing but understandable news, I thought. The Brexit vote has paved the way for a downturn, hence a cut in spending.

But then I thought for myself for a second (a handy exercise to undertake before writing a self-affirming blog post, I often find). And I thought about how advertising really works.

Advertising first works by ensuring your existing customers aren’t tempted by rivals. And second, it works by tempting new customers away from your rivals.

This isn’t opinion, by the way. Marketing science professors have done… y’know… studies on the subject.

So why would people be cutting adspend before a downturn – a time when advertising would surely be needed most?! And then it hit me.

The cutters weren’t viewing their advertising as an investment at all. They were viewing it as a luxury cost.

If that seems a bit of a leap, then bear in mind what this Fornaise Group research recently ‘revealed’:

• 67% don’t believe marketing ROI requires a financial outcome
• 64% use brand awareness as their top marketing ROI KPI
• 58% place “Likes”, “Tweets”, “Clicks” and/or “Click Through rates” in their top 5 marketing ROI KPIs

As I say, marketers are viewing advertising as a cost – and that explains a lot.

It explains why so much advertising is so poor. And it explains why so much of it fails – repeatedly.

Because today’s top marketers are still unaware of how advertising works. Even worse, they’re perfectly happy running advertising that fails. Now let me ask you:

Are you perfectly happy for your communications to fail?

If not – and, of course, you’re open to hiring a freelance copywriter – then get in touch now.

Your competitors are currently cutting their adspend.

Now’s the time to steal yourself some of their customers.