As hard as marketing in a recession may be, there are several things that you and your team can do to stand out from your competitors and still be successful.
How Does a Recession Affect Marketing?
Recessions can affect everything from supply chain management and production to employee retention and customer satisfaction.
As a result, you might need to adjust or rethink parts of your marketing strategy, including managing your budget and tracking KPIs
Budget Management
When the economy is in a downturn, one of the first things you’ll probably think about is lowering your budget. But that’s not always the best thing to do.
You may think that because you have less money coming in, you should also lower your budget. However, lowering your budget could lead to your business losing even more money.
SEO vs SEM
If your company is depending on search engine marketing, or SEM, for most of your website traffic, you might want to consider enhancing your organic traffic strategy.
While SEM is fantastic and should be a part of your marketing strategy, you should try not to put all your eggs in one basket. Things like meta keywords, meta descriptions, link building, blogging, and ALT text can increase your website traffic, for free.
Enhance Your Social Selling Strategy
Your client relationships are essential during a recession. You can improve your current relationships and form new relationships with social selling.
Social selling is the process of connecting with your followers, prospective customers, and current customers through social media channels. By doing this, you can build trust and loyalty.
In turn, you’ll be more likely to retain your customers and hopefully convert a few new ones along the way. It’s also a great way to get your name and your company’s name out there.
Not all forms of marketing need to be paid for. From organic social media to blogging, and everything in between, organic media can drive a lot of awareness.
Organic social media is a pretty common form of free marketing, as it can go viral and get in front of the right people. Plus, it can make your company look more legitimate and professional.
Align Your Marketing and Sales Teams
Aligning your marketing and sales teams can help bring in new ideas, generate more qualified leads, as well as make the workplace more enjoyable.
In fact, companies that have well-aligned sales and marketing teams see a 208% increase in revenue compared to those that don’t.
Track Trends
Regardless of whether in a recession or not, tracking trends is essential. Staying on top of trends is how your company will stay relevant and competitive.
Stay Competitive
Knowing how your competitors are handling the recession can help you and your team navigate through these tough times. Look at their website, social media, as well as employee LinkedIn pages to see if there are any announcements, layoffs, or bad PR.
Focus on Your Current Customers
Ensure that your clients are happy and getting a strong ROI. Some companies may offer a price freeze for upcoming renewals or offer additional support. Another idea is to offer a referral program. Referral programs that are incentivized are a win-win for both your clients and your company. We have generated some of our best clients this way.
