…who don’t use direct response marketing and copywriting.

In the UK “Daily Telegraph” is this article…

“Marketing Spend Falls At Sharpest Rate For Nine Years”.

A recent survey found that…

…49% of companies cut their marketing budgets in the fourth quarter of 2008 and further cuts are expected.

Now, this is fairly typical behaviour from businesses when recession hits.

And the typical response from practitioners of direct response marketing and copywriting is that it’s crazy to cut back.

After all, the beauty of direct response marketing is that the results are clear and measurable.

Marketing spend is not an expense, it’s an investment.  And as long as you’re getting a positive return then you continue.

However, for those business owners who do NOT use direct response techniques, there’s a certain logic behind the cuts.

After all, those business owners are in the same position as John Wanamaker when he quipped…

“I know half the money I spend on advertising is wasted, but I can never find out which half.”

(Presumably this was before he met legendary ad man and copywriter John E. Powers!)

The problem, of course, is if you don’t know what’s producing results, then how do you know which part of the marketing budget to cut?

You could end up cutting the very thing that’s bringing in business and keeping you afloat.

Making cuts to your marketing blindly like this really is playing Russian Roulette with your business.

In good times, direct response marketing is highly effective and will boost profits for any business.

In bad times, using direct response will be the difference between life and death for a business.