When the global economy slows down, businesses tend to take a critical look at all their (fixed) costs. This includes marketing expenses. Sound familiar? We would like to offer you the following advice.
When you examine your marketing budgets and think about cutting back, there is an important piece of knowledge we want to share with you… Just like you, your competitors will tend to scale back their budgets. The result: they have less market visibility. For your company, that is exactly the moment to take the stage and effortlessly enjoy more visibility.
Research shows that companies that scrap their marketing lose 16% in revenue after just 1 year. After 5 years, that loss increases to an average of 58%. Companies that significantly increase their marketing efforts during a recession see their revenue grow by more than 200%. (Study by Ogilvy – “This Too Shall Pass – Making an Impact in a Downturn”)
Before you make any decisions, it is very important to analyze which of your marketing efforts are already yielding results today. So, be sure to request a detailed report from your marketing team or marketing partner.
First, it is important not to just blindly continue executing your pre-set plan. The economy, the market, and the health of your company evolve, so your objectives must evolve too. There is little point in keeping goals if they are not achievable in the current situation.
Maintain your current budgets at least until the end of the planned period (e.g., until the end of the year). Do not make hasty adjustments to your budgets. At the end of that period, review the allocation of your current budget and shift things around instead of scaling back or adding more.
At Expliciet, we always start from these five ambitions:
So, think carefully about what you want to achieve and how much weight you give to this in your budget.
In economically difficult times, we often advise clients to focus on short-term sales. Sit down with your marketing agency and discuss how you can boost your short-term sales. For example, through promotions, giveaways, or joint ventures, …
There are many ways marketing can boost your short-term sales. Close cooperation between your marketing and sales teams is therefore crucial.
Check if a sales funnel exists today and what it looks like. Identify which touchpoints exist, whether there are too many or too few, and which points cost your company a lot of time or effort.
Are you not yet using remarketing, for example? Then this is definitely worth considering! This way, you can effortlessly guide people who have already shown interest in your product toward the actual purchase.
In financially uncertain times, people tend to postpone purchases. Are your sales stalling? Then we recommend creating urgency around your product or service. Convince your potential customers that they need your product or service now.
When the need is greatest, we recommend approaching your existing customers to provide potential leads and rewarding them for doing so. If customers have had a very good experience with your product or service, they will likely be willing to help you when needed. With this method, you are making yourself vulnerable, but it is a very cheap and easy form of marketing.