Don't cut spending on marketing and communication, says Matrade

COMPANIES should not withdraw from communication activities during the economic downturn.

Instead, they should seize the opportunity to make their products and services more visible.

"Now is the time to spend on marketing and communication activities, not pull back from it. This is especially so for SMEs (small and medium sized entrepreneurs)," said Matrade chief executive officer Datuk Noharuddin Nordin.

He said SMEs don't have to go head-to-head with bigger corporations for communication and marketing promotion, but they could be creative by targeting a certain market segment and leverage on other tools like the Internet and mobile marketing.

"It is more competitive to undertake communication activity now. SMEs must take this opportunity since big companies are already cutting down their campaign budget," Noharuddin said during a media briefing at the Effie Awards 2009 talk series in Kuala Lumpur recently.

To date, Matrade has disbursed a total of RM36 million of branding grants to 74 companies.