Dont stop marketing during a recession
Its 2022 and dark clouds are looming for economies we suspect at Pario Ventures.
Marketing is a constant but sometimes the marketing budget can be the first that's cut right down. Companies almost slam on the brakes at the first sign of challenging sales or budget cuts.
We thought we would put together a guide to help on the positives out of a recession with a particular focus on marketing, voice, brand, and your clients.
We have learned at Pario Ventures in over 20 years that good companies and good people can get through a recession. Yes, there will be casualties but if you look at 2008 you had great companies like Amazon bounce back. Uber was created and in fact, one of the Pario Ventures founders started a company in 2008 which was later sold. It's all in the planning and Pario Ventures is keen to help, support and mentor.
This really useful diagram from Harvard is key to consider when looking at consumers' behavior
Loyal customers
Let those loyal customers know they are important to you. It's very easy in a world of growth and trying to build customer numbers, having investors saying scale scale scale, to actually forget about those great customers you already have. Sounds simple and obvious but existing customers cost a lot less to keep than to gain new ones. All about service and making them feel valued. It will be one of your best assets during a recession.
Emotional engagement
Sounds obvious again. But building a strong emotional bond with your customers is key during a recession. When times are tough in the world, promoting a positive message to engage your clients is key
Marketing planning again and again.
During good times, marketing planning is a lot easier. During a recession, you need to keep planning and planning again. It almost becomes a moving project week to week. The factors that affect marketing and make changes are a constant and a lot more regular than a scale growth time.
What is your product offering?
A product that worked well during good times may be a dire product for recession times. Also, we have seen many company offerings that during a down period have suddenly become star products.
Make your product a ‘must have’
Budget Allocation
An important one here that gets overlooked. Keep an eye on those channels that work for you. Seriously they change from good times. Paid search ads which everyone assumes is a guarantee for success, don't always necessarily work in recursion. In fact, if your budgets are cut you need to look at spending more time on organic growth for marketing.
What's your tone
During a recession, really look at the tone of your business on everything that has a public voice. You can still keep your core values and drivers for the business but do a full review of the tone on social media, websites, etc to make sure there is nothing sensitive or controversial.
KPIs
Review those KPIs during the planning and make sure they are tracking the campaigns that are working best during a recession.
Lazer focused on customer targeting
Your marketing and advertising should always be targeting the right audience but during an economic downturn, targeting is essential for surviving as a company and even more so when the spending is lower. It prevents wasted spend on relevant clocks.
Get a feel for what your customers need right now and adjust from there. Do the same with email lists, websites, and the voice of the business.
What next for a recession
They do not last forever. The general feeling is that due to improved and faster technology, recessions and downturns actually happen quicker but are more volatile. 2008 was considerably quicker than the dot-com bubble burst.
You will hear people talk about V shape recession. The general feeling again is that the V shape might have more of a straight line and be prolonged.
You will get lots of different views out there. The key thing is, that something will happen. It has to and has been due for some time. Preparation is everything.
About Pario Ventures
Pario Ventures are based in London UK, Brussels Belgium, and New York US.
For 2022 Pario Ventures is focused on cash positive businesses, businesses that have not met plan and need help both financially and also people wise. We are also working with those companies looking to plan through a 3 year period of challenges ahead.
We have lots of advisors and mentors in the business who are happy to help. Trina Murray-Hundley is a UK-based mentor who is able to help with Marketing and Social Media. Please contact us at info@parioventures.com for more details.