Recession-Proof Marketing Strategies

Everyone fears living in a recession when the economy starts to shift downward. Uncertainty arises in all businesses. However, we can look to history for answers on how to navigate a potential recession, especially when it comes to the marketing department. First, it is important to know how a recession affects consumer habits. Most consumers change their spending habits due to their jobs being at risk and inflation increasing prices. Many opt to cut out nearly every cost except for essential items. However, others may cut down on some luxuries but may splurge on other non-essential things. Understanding how your existing customers adjust their habits is essential to know what your smartest move is. Nonetheless, recessions affect businesses just as much as they do consumers. Many companies look for ways to cut down on their expenditures. And for less experienced business owners, cutting back on marketing seems like a logical business move. However, this may cause more harm than good.

Here are some reasons why marketing is essential in a recession:

Cutting costs result in long-term loss. When a company opts to cut marketing costs, its brand awareness decreases, as well as brand loyalty, and its search results tank. This leaves room for competitors to fill the void. On the other hand, when a business maintains its marketing budget and has a good digital strategy, its online presence will remain strong. This will result in confidence and loyalty growth among their existing and new customers. Decreases in competition can benefit you. When other companies choose to cut down on expenses in the research and development department as well as marketing, fewer new products are released, and the ones that are released do not get the visibility they need, which means there is plenty of room to increase market share. When you maintain your budget for these departments, you will be able to focus on creating and improving products or services while building a strong marketing campaign that shows customers how you are able to help during a recession. Branding helps to stay relevant. Companies need to evaluate how they can remain relevant to their customers. This can be done through Key Performance Indicators, which will help you understand what campaigns and content are working. The Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) that you need to measure and monitor may vary depending on your business and your goals. However, some basic indicators include Clickthrough rates, which measures the number of specific clicks on your email distributions, for example. Other common marketing metrics are related to social media, like the number of views, likes, follows, likes, shares, comments, and other measurable interactions on the social media profile. Knowing this will allow you to build effective campaigns. But you also need to consider that the campaigns need to be more targeted to deliver high-quality leads that other departments, like sales, can work with.

Recession-Proof Marketing Strategies and Tips

Increase advertising spending. A lot of people think that cutting advertising to save money is smart. However, it is shown that increase advertising during a recession is beneficial to the company. For instance, during the 1980s, McGraw-Hill Research found that the companies that maintained or increased advertising during the recession grew significantly even in the following three years. But the most recent market downturn we all remember is the 2008 recession. During these times, many companies were faced with two options: cut advertising expenditure completely in order to weather the storm, or increase their marketing output beyond what was needed for normal growth. At the end of the day, statistics showed that those who chose to maintain their marketing budgets benefited from 3.5 times as much brand visibility as those who cut back significantly on marketing efforts. (ICAEW Insights, 2022) This happens because the advertising market becomes less competitive, which means that you can purchase more ad spaces with the same budget. But it goes even further than that; when you continue to advertise, people will perceive that you have corporate stability and therefore won’t worry about your product or service going bankrupt. Keep in mind that you should still be as strategic as possible. As we mentioned before, all your campaigns (paid or not) should be more targeted and optimized to guarantee high-quality results, whether through traditional media such as television, printed advertisements, or radio spots, or through digital media. Digital media offers a variety of possibilities when it comes to advertising. This can be done through social media platforms, search engines, podcasts, and digital display ads. Customer loyalty is an asset. Generally speaking, it is easier and more effective to market to existing clients than to bring in new customers. Rely heavily on making sure that your customers feel appreciated, and make sure to keep in touch regularly. You will need to create positive messaging to show stability, send surveys, and other communication methods that will allow your customers to know that you are there and that you care about what they have to say. Communication can be established through different methods, so choose the one that works best for you and your audience. Emails are a popular way to directly communicate with your customers, with the opportunity of personalizing them. Of course, another effective way is through social media, sending your message in an appealing and interesting way. This can be done both organically (unpaid) and paid way. If you want to reach more people, you can opt for social media advertising on the platform where your target audience is more active. Don’t forget about content marketing. As we mentioned before, during a recession, many companies choose to cut as many costs as possible, which decreases competition. Ranking well in search results becomes easier when businesses invest less in SEO and content marketing strategies. While it is important to always deliver relevant content, during tough economic times it is essential to deliver compelling content because this will increase traffic to your site, and not only that, but it will be relevant traffic. When working on creating relevant content, make sure that you use multimedia since video or visual content gets a lot more traction on social media. Be consistent, check current trends, and encourage interaction in your posts. You can read more about this here. Some content ideas for social media you can implement are including behind-the-scenes videos or pictures, tutorials, industry news, and information about your company. Keep an eye on your competitors. Make sure to check on the marketing efforts of your competitors, since their cutting down on their efforts can help you gain market share. Look at how they respond to the recession, this will allow you to know where you can stand in the market as the weeks go by, which will help you prepare for it. If your competition is cutting its marketing efforts, make sure to strengthen yours, especially in the areas where you see a void in the market that your company can fill. If on the other hand, your competitors are choosing to maintain their marketing budget, be on the lookout for any threat that they may represent to your company, but also take note on what it’s working for them, not to copy them but to have a better understanding of what the customers are looking for. Reach out for customer testimonials. During a market turndown, consumer confidence tends to decrease, but having customer success stories to back you up will help you show that you have what it takes to better your potential customers’ lives. Have written testimonials, but don’t limit yourself to that. You can ask customers to shoot a short video with you, or even ask them to speak at an event you may have. Having Google Reviews is a great way to improve your search rankings and overall SEO efforts. Although they are not the only thing that helps the search rankings, reviews can be a strong signal that communicates trustworthiness and authority, and it is a way of differentiating your company from others, as well as raising visibility. So consider creating a strategy that encourages your customers to leave a Google Review and in all the platforms that are relevant to your business. In conclusion, maintain or even increase your marketing efforts during a recession. This will show customers that your company is stable, and it will also be a way of connecting with your audience and letting them know how you can help them. If you need help with your digital marketing, don’t hesitate to reach out to the Miss Ink team, who is ready to help you and your company to have an online presence you can be proud of. From planning content to managing comments and reviews to social media ads to SEO and beyond, we have you covered. Contact us today to get started. Resources: Advertising Specialty Institute (2009) Advertising in a recession. Markletic (2021) How Does a Recession Affect Marketing? Augurian (2022) Marketing during a recession: why it matters & strategy tips. WordStream (2021) 10 Essential Tips on Marketing During a Recession (+ Why It’s Crucial) Englander Davis (2022) Do Google Reviews Help Ranking & SEO?