During a recession, money is tight and everyone’s looking for ways to save their pennies, including businesses. So we’re cutting costs, and marketing can take a hit can’t it? Wrong!
Cutting marketing costs decreases brand awareness & loyalty as well as decreasing search engine results! Leaving plenty of room for competitors to take the lead in the market.
Here are our reasons why you should invest MORE in Marketing during a recession:
You’re Losing Current Customers Already!
With a recession, no matter how consistent and great you are, you will lose customers! At least for a period of time anyway. This isn’t because of anything you or your business has done. As stated before, people are less indulgent with their money during this time period so your market will shrink as the industry does.
This is the time to step up your marketing strategy. People are still spending money, you just need to give them a reason why they should spend it with you.
Accuriqing new leads during this time period can be expensive and time-consuming so maintaining your audience is key. This can be a great time to increase brand loyalty with your existing customers, what can you do to ease their stress? Express to them how much their business means to you, especially when times get tough! Be transparent and relatable, don’t be scared to start conversations with them about the current climate.
Time For New Relationships
Although maintaining your existing customer base is crucial, this time also needs to be used to establish new relationships and develop trust with a new customer base. Targeting a lookalike audience from your existing customer base is a great example to discover potential customers/clients. When the market eventually recovers, you’ll be in a much better position as you have a relationship with an existing customer base as well as a new one.
Statistics Don’t Lie & Neither Do We!
A 2018 study at the University of South Australia’s Ehrenberg-Bass Insitute for Marketing Science showed the long-term impact of companies failing to advertise and here are the big takeaways:
- Brands that stop advertising for a year or more showed that sales declined year-over-year by an average of 16% in the first year and by 25% after two years
- Small brands suffered worse declines than larger brands
- For businesses that have already seen a decline, the rate of decline is steeper when advertising stop
You’re Convinced, But What Will It Cost You?
When the market recovers and we’re at the height of an economic expansion, everyone’s attention diverts straight back to marketing. This is to increase the visibility of a brand, and guess what? It’s heavily invested in. Enter, supply and demand. They supply the space for you to advertise, but obviously at a premium cost. This is due to every business fighting for advertising space in a crowded marketplace.
In a recession, however, plenty of marketing space is available and it is more affordable as competition declines. This is your opportunity to become visible within your market for a reasonable investment, and you won’t have to fight as hard as other companies to make a comeback.
Invest MORE Into Marketing This Recession…
Marketing is not about pushing your audience to buy, but about being at the top of their minds when they are ready to. The last thing you want is to lose a customer, simply because they forgot about you.
Recessions are scary times. Don’t ruin your previous marketing efforts by abolishing or downgrading now, it would of all been for nothing. Have we turned your head on marketing in a recession? Then get in touch today and one of our team will assist you in getting your business out there in the market!
