There is a lot of talk about the current state of the economy, especially regarding job security and economic growth. It seems like every time you turn on your television or open your newspaper there is another story about how bad it is out there for businesses and consumers. Additionally, many people are concerned that we may be headed for an economic recession.
The recession has caused many people to re-evaluate their priorities, and some may be looking for ways to cut back on expenses. It’s not just about saving money, either; it’s about finding ways to save time, which can make all the difference in making important decisions. Your marketing message needs to capture this trend in order for you to maintain your edge over other competitors.
You may not be able to afford to advertise your business as much as you’d like, but that doesn’t mean you have to stop marketing altogether. There are plenty of ways small businesses can take advantage of online advertising without breaking the bank.
In a stagnant economy, it’s less competitive to be average selling the same thing as your competitors or applying innovative methods to improve customer satisfaction and respond to market trends. Rather than being competitive and successful due to brand consciousness winning factors (retail location, store hours, financing), businesses focused on enhancing customer loyalty during recessions are more likely winners – retaining customers can help grow revenues as well.
Many companies that restored relations with their loyal customers by offering favorable products or services gained sales volumes from new users who followed them actively.
Price wars are great for consumers but can be a disaster for businesses. Price wars cost companies money; if margins are tight in the early stages of business development, it’s very difficult to afford them.
If you do decide to engage in price wars, make sure that your competitors cannot afford to match your offer over time. This means you need to be able to raise prices faster than your competition can lower them. You should also have enough financial resources to not need price increases on other items or services that may affect profitability.
If you are a business that is looking to grow and develop your brand, you will need to be consistent with your branding. This means keeping engaging with your audience and developing a monthly plan of marketing strategies.
Many companies are now using content marketing to promote their products. This is because it has become so easy for businesses to create engaging, useful content that people will read and share. Content marketing allows you to spread a message about your company or product directly through blogs, websites, and social media sites. Content marketing can also be used to drive traffic by linking back to other relevant websites. You can then use this as an opportunity for paid advertising on Google Adwords or Facebook Ads to take advantage of historically low ad rates during a recession. It is, therefore important that you have a clear strategy for running content marketing campaigns before starting them to make sure they are effective at increasing sales and brand awareness.
Content marketing works by creating useful and relevant content that attracts people to a website. Once the people have arrived on your site, they can be given information about products or services, which will attract them to purchase. This is why you should focus on creating useful information that solves problems for your customers and not just sell them something. You should also try to create content that has relevance to current events and news stories to show how your business can offer solutions for these issues. In this way, you can build up trust with potential clients and ensure they are more likely to buy from you if they choose between other options. You must include the following elements when creating content:
And therein lies the dilemma. Businesses must continue to grow and evolve to stay profitable, but budgets for advertising are often limited. A new study from LinkedIn shows that businesses with a dedicated ad budget spent an average of $3,943 per month on digital marketing – nearly four times more than those without it (averaging under $1,000). This is likely due to the extra costs associated with ad campaigns like Facebook ads and Google AdWords, as well as the high cost of hiring a team of employees who can manage these strategies independently.
So, what does this all mean for small business owners? The answer depends largely on your specific industry: if you sell products or services that are highly dependent on digital marketing efforts then you should be investing in your online presence every year like clockwork. Otherwise, it’s probably not worth getting too worked up about just yet.
These limited budgets, shifts in priorities, and changes in customer shopping patterns require that you not only continue marketing but that you change the way you market your business during a recession. Here are a few techniques to help you change and adapt to the new and unique set of challenges that are created by a recession without compromising your marketing or reach:
Your offerings
In order to keep up with customer expectations and compete in the market, many companies are adding essential services to their offering while they still focus on offering unessential ones. In an example of a cruise line, this is likely to mean adding more amenities and entertainment. The cruisers they’re targeting are likely to spend a lot of time on their vacation and will want some kind of activity or entertainment along with their relaxation. The same goes for many forms of business services that may not be essential but can make all the difference in terms of how your potential client feels about your company when it comes to making a purchase decision. Including these “nice things”—whether it’s free shipping, free support, or even just a nice product presentation—can help you stand out from the crowd (and get them over to your website).
Your online presence
It’s easy to assume that people see your business online and know you are open for business. That is not the case, however, when it comes to social media profiles. Your profile needs to be updated each week with a new message or status update that informs your customers and prospects of your current hours, upcoming events, special offers on products or services, and other updates about your business.
Your budget allocation
During a recession, many companies may need to make changes as to how much money goes where. For example, if the marketing and/or advertising budget stays the same or gets reduced during a recession, you may still need to change how to allocate your budget.
Your KPIs
The key performance indicators ( KPIs ) and marketing analytics can help you determine which campaigns yield the best results and which are underperforming. Then, you can prioritize those that are generating income or leads and kill the ones that aren’t producing results. Not only will this help you save money, but it will also focus your sales-driven efforts.
Your customer targeting
A lot of information can be gathered from email marketing campaigns. However, knowing what to do with all this data takes some time and research. The best way to capture leads is by segmenting your audience based on their interests. This helps you make the right targeting adjustments to get a higher return on your investment in email marketing campaigns.
Various components of your ads
A/B testing is a form of data analysis that helps you to determine which of your marketing assets generates the best results. A/B tests can help you identify what combinations of variables are most effective in increasing conversions and decreasing abandonment rates on specific advertising platforms.
The main focus for marketers should therefore be on marketing concepts that:
There are many different tactics that marketers can adopt for their digital marketing during a recession in order to achieve these goals. Of course, the best solution for any company is to think about how they can benefit themselves by using clever marketing ideas which will help them build their brand image as well as make their product more desirable and marketable.
