What can marketers do during a recession?

together predicted a recession With that looming over the horizon, marketers have every right to worry. After all, marketing is often the first thing to decide when a business is tightening its grip. But as we learned in the pastCutting your marketing budget is not necessarily the right way to go.

Cutting marketing costs means less sales and less revenue, which ultimately exacerbates the problem. in fact, According to a marketing expert Stephen King“Businesses that reduce advertising spending during a recession lose less in terms of profitability than those that actually increase spending by an average of 10 percent.”

So if cutting marketing costs isn’t the answer to getting through the recession, what is?

There are a few things marketers need to keep in mind as we move into an area of ​​economic uncertainty. Let’s take a look.

1. Don’t stop advertising

In Peter SteidlS book“Survive, Exploit, Disrupt: Action Guidelines in the Marketing Recession“, He notes that Companies that increased spending during the recession actually saw a 4.3% increase in profits compared to companies that cut costs (0.8% increase).

Unfortunately, many companies do not think so. The knee-jerk instinct of many brands facing a recession is to immediately cut marketing budgets and cut media spending. It makes sense – less money flowing in should mean less money.

But marketing isn’t a luxury, it’s a necessity. It is as important to brands as utilities like electricity or water. You need marketing to stay in business. Your brand also needs to attract new customers and stay at the forefront of the minds of established customers.

Following this fear-based instinct to cut costs as much as possible backfires. Think beyond the recession and focus on what’s right for your business.

2. Analyze your tech stack

So instead of turning out the lights, now is the time to look at the tools you’re currently using to determine which ones. It doesn’t improve the bottom line or save your organization money.

When evaluating your existing tech stack, you should ask yourself the following:

• Are there certain tools that have duplicate efforts? Is one of them less valuable?

• Does the solution help the business across multiple teams? For example, If the tool is so specialized that it only performs one task for one team, further investment in it may not be the best use of your budget as you look to cut costs.

• Can the solution reduce waste and provide savings while increasing the desired marketing results in the funnel?

A technical stack can will become bloated, making them a great place to cut costs. As you evaluate your existing technologies, lean toward solutions that reduce waste and improve marketing efforts. It’s a “spend smarter, not harder” situation.

3. Lean hard on ROI analysis

How do you value your tools, technology and teams? Based on your ROI analysis, you can shift your focus to the channels, tactics, creatives, partners and campaigns that really drive your brand awareness and, of course, revenue.

Remember that gut feelings can only guide you during this assessment. You may think you know what is and isn’t working and what is and isn’t going to give you the most value for every dollar you spend. But you can’t really be sure – not without valid data.

You need to pair your human experience with real data that delivers value, so you can double down on what works and cut back on what doesn’t.

When in doubt, trust your ROI analysis.

4. Dig deeper into the test and learn approach

Learning from the past is one of the best ways to predict the future. That’s why we talk all the time uniform measurement and Optimizing all channels.

Just as a recession is no time to cut your advertising budget, it’s no time to get rid of the status quo. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that new opportunities can emerge from difficult situations.

Don’t be afraid to test your messaging strategy, tactical strategy, or channel strategy. You don’t need to make dramatic changes or sink big dollars into something new. Start gradually.

Study the data from these small changes to make larger upgrades with confidence. This data and your test results will be the light that will help you through the recession.

5. Be flexible, nimble and ready to roll

In a recession or any volatile economic environment, flexibility and speed are critical. How much can you adapt and how quickly? When the media plan your team created goes out the window in Q2, can you handle changing that plan immediately? Can you update plans for today and the future at the same time?

Agility and optimization will become extremely important as plans move from annual or quarterly planning models to more real-time monthly or even weekly models.

To stay lean and nimble, you need to understand how your online and offline channels work together. Channels are more connected than many marketers realize, and to implement these kinds of rapid changes, you need to understand how they interact.

A successful pivot relies on all your moving parts moving in the same direction, at the same time.

6. Go back to basics

If the goal is to stay as lean, agile and efficient as possible during the recession, now is the time to get back to marketing basics and invest in more affordable advertising methods. Here are a few to consider:

• Organic posts on social media. Building your audience through organic placement rather than paid ads shows a desire to create and connect with a community, not just sell.

• Focus on content creation. A successful content strategy is full of valuable and useful information – and draws attention to your services or products. It also drives steady traffic to your website from both new and established customers.

• Join or create Facebook groups. Groups are another place to reach out to the community and provide value to your target audience. Build loyalty by making your followers feel seen, heard, and like they matter to you (because they do).

• Send email to customers. New customers are always nice, but it’s your existing customer base that will carry you through a recession. Show these customers that they matter and that you are there for them during this period of economic uncertainty. Send them direct, personalized email offers, discounts or access to exclusive programs.

• Go live on Facebook or Instagram. Live is a great way to interact with your followers and attract new ones. They are free and can be structured however you want. Introduce new products or services, talk to a special guest, or just talk to your customers (hello AMA!).

• Donate to local nonprofits. It doesn’t have to be money. Donate your time, products or services to your community through local nonprofits to build connection, brand awareness and loyalty.

Remember that marketing can take many forms, and sometimes basic (and low-cost) forms work just as well.

The goal is not just to survive

With economic stress and uncertainty looming, it’s all too easy for marketers and brands to give in to fear and panicky knee-jerk reactions. Don’t let it be you.

The right technology, tools and partners can help you lose fat and keep it off. Improve your ROI by optimizing with clear analytics, testing and learning as you navigate not only through this period of uncertainty, but beyond.

The goal here isn’t just to survive the next recession—it’s to thrive.