It's easy to cut your marketing budget in a turbulent economy, but it's a bad idea. Here's how to save money on your PR strategy.

The opinions expressed by entrepreneurs contributors are their own.

When the weather is unpredictable, it's hard to plan. Still, you need to plan. Even when you love your PR, and during those times it's tempting to cut marketing and PR budgets.

I know both sides of this fence. I have been an entrepreneur for 75% of my career, including during 9/11, the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid-19 pandemic. Having witnessed the fallout of shrinking budgets, I learned that taking your foot off the gas doesn't slow the engine - it kills it, with a slow, painful death. You can't spare your way to balance or increase your income, what you do need to do is change your marketing and .

If you love your marketing or , eliminating a well-oiled agency will cost you productivity and results when you need them most. If you're hiring a new agency, these tips will help you get off to a good start and work effectively with your new agency.

Related: 4 Financial Tips to Get Through Times of Economic Uncertainty

When things are going well, brands with lofty goals do everything they can to achieve meaningful results faster. But if you're cutting budgets, you need to focus on things that last longer. As one of my colleagues once said, "I don't know why everyone wants to go viral. I want my content to be . I want it to stick and be hard to get away with." rid." This is the mindset to adopt when trying to cut costs.

There are two types of media that stay forever: owned media and earned media. Your proprietary media is any channel you control where to create 100% of the content, such as your or your email marketing. Your earned media appears on channels you don't control, but you create very little, if any, content, think magazine articles and (non-incentive) reviews.

and earned media are the super glue of marketing and PR levers. Because they are so long-lasting and client-focused, these are great areas to focus your agency on.

But longevity is only one benefit of this content, reuse is another. For example, blog posts that are lists are great SEO boosters, and you can use a list to generate lots of posts, just like you can with an article that includes your product.

You want your stickiest content to be of the highest quality. If you're downsizing in other areas, now is not the time to hire an untested blogger referred to you by your nephew. Now is the time to focus your budget on what you do well. Very good.

Highly useful and sticky content is the most valuable and should be a budget priority.

Related: Using Marketing to Stay Strong in a Weak Economy

Chances are your agency will provide you with a suite of services. Instead of eliminating high value products, focus your budget on these items to narrow your reach.

Take a closer look at what your agency has done this year that has worked for you. How did they excel? While you ask yourself this question, think about it in "Make it Sticky" content, but also in areas where narrowing the scope would bring outsized value.

One way to achieve high-value PR is to use product-focused PR and incorporate thought leadership and rewards programs in-house. Another idea, instead of working with 15 different micro-influencers, you work with one over a year-long strategic campaign. Maybe your branding company can only produce long-form content and you can create social media posts in-house.

Instead of a quarterly campaign, work with your agency to develop an exceptionally strong and thoughtful campaign throughout the year and focus your efforts on making that campaign exceptional. This brings me to my final recommendation.

Another area that can save you money is fewer meetings with your agency. While meetings are important, especially early in the relationship, this is one area that could lead to cost savings if you've been working with your agency for a while.

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