The recession is all around us. Sometimes is difficult to know what you should do with your businesses during these tough economic times. There is a lot of research to show that one should continue marketing their business during a recession. One could use this analogy:
We are all long-distance runners. Now, the runners are faced with a very large hill. Do we keep running and pushing forward or do we stop and give up? We push on. We push ourselves and our businesses up the hill because we need to finish. WE NEED TO SUCCEED. WE NEED TO WIN. Imagine how much easier this could be to push forward with your crowd of loyal customers supporting you.
In order for those customers, your loyal fans, to keep you moving forward, you need to say in contact with them. Find out more about them, what their needs are, and how they are responding during the recession. Then, react and respond to those needs. When economic hard times loom, people tend to retreat back to their homes for family time. Images of extreme sports and adventure will be replaced with images of cozy homes and warm, fuzzy feelings.
If you do need to cut marketing spending, try to maintain frequency of advertisements by shifting from 30-second ads to 15-second ads in radio or from full-page ads to 1/2 page ads in magazines or increase the use of direct marketing like e-mail marketing or direct mail.
Gimmicks are out; multi-purpose goods, reliability, durability, safety, and performance are in. Customers will be out shopping for the best deals. You do not need to necessarily cut your prices, but perhaps offer a temporary price promotion, extend credit to long-standing customers, or price items in smaller packages.
Most importantly, you need to cement your customers’ loyalty to your business. You can’t be all things to all people, instead focus on your core company values and invest in getting to know your customers. Strong company leadership and dedication to customers is what is going to help you hear the loud cheers to get you to the finish line.
RELATED POSTS
When times are good you should advertise, when times are bad you MUST advertise
