Marketing plays a vital role for many organizations in getting through the recession and emerging as an improved brand by practicing vigilant recessionary thinking. Although slashing budgets and laying off the workforce is always an option for businesses, they should initially view tough times as an opportunity to grow internally and externally.
It may appear to go against common sense that a recession can boost periods of economic growth. However, professionals endorse that this is a perfect time to revisit your branding strategies and align them with your core business values.
Making intelligent plans for your business will ensure that you stay ahead of the competition even in dire times. Here are some of the tips that will help you survive critical situations.
Marketing Tips
Focus on Loyal Customers
When times are tough, it is hard to attract new customers as everyone is tight. This is the time to trigger your recessionary thinking and develop effective marketing strategies that keep your existing customers engaged in one way or another. You will need to retain your loyalty through exceptional services/products, personalized marketing channels, and genuine concern for your partners and clients.
Partnerships
Combining your resources with a partner business to target the same clients is a great strategy to cut costs and avoid conflict of interest. The focus should be to partner with firms that want to attract the same customer base as yours but are not directly competing with you.
Encourage your partners by offering incentives that can help their business. This encouragement will form a connection between both companies that can translate into seminars, trade shows, and partner marketing campaigns, which benefit both parties.
Suppose two businesses are working together and share similar business philosophies and objectives. In that case, there is a higher probability that their recessionary thinking is along the same line and is desirable for both.
Don’t Miss an Opportunity
As much as tough times can set you back, there is also a chance for you to acquaint your business with feasible markets. Reevaluate your business units and products that are not profitable and whether they will have any influence after the recession.
This reevaluation is an opportunity for you to audit your business processes internally and get rid of things that can impede your future productivity. Have a keen eye for upcoming market segments as they will provide you with an opportunity to tap them before anyone else. Marketing tips offered by your team of experts will play a vital role in targeting these newly created segments.
Advertise
Advertising in tough times may sound like a flawed idea, but, in reality, this can prove to be significant for the survival of your business. Analyze the placement of all your current marketing campaigns and only continue with creating the most direct impact.
Often businesses cut their advertising budgets in tough times as an easy way to cut down on costs. However, because of lesser competition in the market, you have a higher chance to reach a potential audience. Innovative recessionary thinking is required from you in this situation as you can renegotiate with advertising sources and cut down significantly on the costs.
As you have more leverage over your media agent in bad times, ask them to place your ads where they generate maximum reach.
Outsource
You will practically have the same workload in tough times as you had before. It is often hard to efficiently carry out all the tasks because you may have laid off some of your workforce. Other resources are also limited, and you are in dire need of some practical marketing tips.
Outsourcing some of your tasks like graphic designing, media strategizing, writing, and editing to the hands of an expert will save you the costs associated with them and ensure their high quality. The outsourcing agencies have specialized skills, which can also act as your competitive advantage.
SEO
Search engine optimization is used to divert traffic towards your business through the use of specific keywords. A manager with innovative recessionary thinking will use SEO to carry out most of its marketing plans. It costs less than traditional advertising mediums and, if executed properly, can generate high visitor flow towards your website.
As most of the searches on the internet are through Google and other search engines, your business will be better off if it appears among the top results. However, your website must be highly responsive and aesthetically pleasing to create an impact on its visitors.
Conclusion
Following these marketing tips is essential, especially in the time of recession. Be proactive in your approach and make use of all available resources. Video advertising on social media has emerged as one of the most popular and effective mediums of advertising.
A successful video can generate a broad reach and, if gone viral, can reshape your entire business. The success of your recessionary thinking highly depends on your ability to adapt to the situation and make efficient use of the available tools and resources.
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