According to the Harvard Business Review, just 9 percent of businesses come out of an economic slowdown with higher sales and profits than before. The companies who are fortunate enough to be in that elite group aren’t the ones that cut budgets deeply and quickly. They’re the ones that invested strategically in marketing.

Over the years, businesses have pulled back their marketing during economic uncertainty and learned time and time again that there’s no guarantee this will protect their business. In fact, we’ve seen the best way for companies to survive and potentially even thrive in a tough economy is to make marketing a priority. To learn the most compelling benefits of marketing through uncertainty, check out the rest of our article below.

Position Your Brand for Continued Success

Advertising during an economic slowdown has been proven to produce both short- and long-term positive affects for your business. Companies that maintained their ad budgets during a recession in 1974 earned more sales and a higher overall net income than companies who stopped advertising that year. Their strategy continued to pay off, as those same companies also received higher sales for two years after the recession ended.

Consumers have also noted that when they see brands advertise during tough economic periods, they feel more reassured about the companies’ commitment to the business. If you act like your business is doing as well as ever, your audience will tend to believe you. However, if you pull back and act like you’re struggling, your audience will take note of that, too.

Leave Competitors in the Dust

During a slower economy, many of your competitors will be cutting back on their marketing spend. If your brand chooses to be bold and maintain or even increase your marketing budget, you can make impressive gains in your market share. Brands that maintained or increased their marketing budget during the 1985 recession saw 256 percent more sales than companies who decreased their spend, according to McGraw-Hill.

Although that data is now 40 years old, it’s still proven true by brands today. During the most recent recession, Match.com was one of the first dating services to launch a mobile app for the brand-new iPhone. Their app was available for nearly 18 months before its top competitor eHarmony launched its own app, and other apps such as Tinder weren’t released until years later. Making smart marketing investments allowed Match to come out of the recession a step ahead of its competitors with a 30 percent larger active subscriber base.

Jump on New Opportunities

When uncertainty causes chaos throughout the entire business, larger brands are especially likely to hit pause on marketing campaigns in an effort to protect their funds. Back in 2008, 60 percent of large companies anticipated facing budget cuts, compared to only 13 percent of small businesses. The ad slots that the bigger brands abandoned then became available to smaller businesses, allowing them to spread smart marketing messages to a larger audience.

Small businesses may also be able to snag ad spots at a lower price than normal during an unstable economy. Social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and Snapchat, are all reliant on advertisers as their primary source of revenue. With more spots available, they may be motivated to lower their prices, allowing smaller brands to reach more people with less money.

Yes, This Strategy Really Does Work

During the economic slowdown caused by the dot-com bubble burst in the early 2000s, Target was one of a few retailers that managed to make strategic marketing and operational decisions that led to them emerging from the recession as a market leader. In 2000, Target increased marketing and sales expenditures by 20 percent and released their new value-based slogan: “expect more, pay less.” The company also expanded into new categories of merchandise, including private-label food brands and clothing lines with famous designers.

In addition to these strategies for growth, Target was able to reduce costs by partnering with online retailers and consolidating some of its other, smaller store brands. By making just a few budget cuts in key areas, the company was able to increase their overall efficiency and productivity. In the end, Target increased sales by 40 percent and profits by 50 percent over the course of the recession.

This is just the start to all the benefits marketing can provide to your company when things seem uncertain. To find out how to make your marketing more effective right now, download our guide Embracing Uncertainty: Driving Growth in Uncertain Times.