How Small Businesses Are Preparing Their Marketing Strategies For A Recession
© Shutterstock ShutterstockDespite all the talk of failure, small business owners hope for the best and prepare for the worst. I met several marketing agencies that focused on working with entrepreneurs to understand how small businesses are structured, grow and expand. Preparing for the ski season is similar to skiing. You must be prepared to weather the storm. To help, I've combined their feedback with the marketing strategies we use at our company to prepare for the future.
There will be no unilateral approach. Your approach will depend on your current situation and the level of marketing you are using. In most small business markets, you will have a full marketing team and various agencies supporting your business. And at the bottom you can have a CMO. Review each of these strategies to see how they apply to your business and weigh your approach accordingly.
Related: 6 Proven Business Marketing Strategies That Can Thrive During a Recession
Create trigger points for costs to move the market
If there is a recession, you can expect a decrease in income. If this happens, what will be the transaction costs? It is best to plan these decisions ahead of time when there is no current stress. Where do you cut costs? Where are costs rising? What metrics do you use to measure the success or failure of initiatives? What is your target cost per lead? What is your target cost per new customer? These are all questions entrepreneurs are asking themselves and their marketing teams right now.
We are working on laying the foundation. When we fly, it's like building an airplane. After Apple's iOS15 update, we're seeing a decline in some categories like ads and email, and it's hard to know when we'll hit rock bottom. At the same time, we're seeing others like thought leadership, influencer marketing, and podcasts grow, and we're not sure when we'll hit the limit. The key is to stay on top of the marketing mix and take responsibility for understanding what moves the needle we need to move. A round strategy will look at new account marketing, customer marketing and affiliate marketing for a complete strategy.
Invest in branding and messaging to stay ahead of the competition
Companies are redoubled efforts to stand out from the crowd. Prop Digital founder Bob Gillespie says clients drive differentiation through strong branding and messaging. “Brands want to stand out. And when they do, they want such a wide differentiation. We've found that companies are investing in their product and messaging and then implementing it across their campaigns to create strong brand recognition in an increasingly competitive marketing environment. .
This is what we decided to do during the pandemic. We knew the market was changing and we couldn't compete as a small business. So we knew we had to stand out and make every interaction count. We appointed a brand agency to bring it. They changed our brand and came back with something that would differentiate us in the market. Then we hired a postal agency and compiled our sales letters. We are now focused on making every touch point impactful and memorable.
Related: How Small Businesses Can Survive and Grow in a Recession
Be strategic about your advertising spend and goals
When revenues decline, most companies will cut advertising spending. "It makes it difficult to scale," says Steve Krakawer of Harbor Marketing Agency. He recommends asking yourself, "How are you most effectively reaching customers? Focus on ROAS as your biggest metric and reset your expectations. Growth can be slow. Gone are the days of investing $1 and getting $5 from Facebook." So that's what we're trying to focus on." It's about building a brand. We put out a lot of content to build a community around brands and companies. Then we add that brand to direct response advertising. It takes more effort to get results. It was five years ago, and building a brand in today's market is not an option."
He also advises: "Be smart about your spending. You don't have to go through a recession. You don't have to be too aggressive. You have to make sure you weather the storm by staying balanced."
Combine efforts to increase resources
It's not time to go it alone. Placing it as part of a "total package" shows better value; People believe that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. Brian Taylor, creator of Goldiata, says: “Along with other companies that are going to break. Look for sectors that are less likely to be affected by a recession, such as government, health care and consumer staples.
We have made strategic changes to align our go-to-market strategy with select partners. We realized that we cannot boil the ocean with three marketing teams. If we wanted to make an impact, we needed to focus and leverage our partners' marketing teams. This allowed us to combine our sales teams into a single account-based marketing strategy, leverage the content marketing resources of both brands, and increase the number of leads sent to sales teams. It is to win. We are in a market where we understand that we are stronger together. The number of our partners is three times the number of our marketing teams. Why go it alone when we can co-create content and co-promote that increases brand reach? We have a strong story in common, so let's tell it.
RELATED: Why You Should Never Skip Brand Marketing When Downsizing
Provide more social proof to increase trust
In a tough market, everyone's name is on the line. This means that every decision is important. "In a down market, be prepared to provide more social proof," says Joe Dominick, partner at Gage Media and owner of a small IT company. They want research and evidence to convince people to take the money. It costs money," he said. No need to apologize. It's not about loyalty, it's about reducing potential fear and uncertainty. A good reputation helps. Their names are as important as yours.”
With or without an economic recession, we have invested heavily in the topics that are part of our content strategy, knowing they will remain relevant over time. Social proof is always important. See how you can tell a customer's story and make them a hero. Your success is their success, and the more you put them at the center of your marketing strategy, the better. Even in industries where you cannot publish a client's name, you can maintain anonymity by publishing the type of company and the industry they serve. The idea that we can't share our successes is simply not true. There is a creative way to tell every story.
Entrepreneurs understand that we need to think ahead and start making strategic changes to prepare for another unknown future. How you implement your marketing strategy can make or break your business. It's not uncommon for entrepreneurs to cut marketing budgets and rely solely on the sales funnel when they're not working. This is a safe strategy because you both need to be competitive. If you disappear from the market and expect people to remember you for who you are, you will be disappointed. We live in a low culture. People forget your work. Small businesses must find ways to do both to remain competitive. They have to be smart about it. In reality, we can't do everything. Thinking about what you need to focus on now will help you gauge your workload and increase or decrease your workload as needed. Any weak market offers amazing opportunities for small business growth.
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