By Samuel Thimothy, VP at OneIMS.com, an inbound marketing agency, and co-founder of Clickx.io, the digital marketing intelligence platform.
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It’s no secret that we’re swiftly approaching an economic downturn. Businesses large and small are feeling the pinch, and many are already looking for ways to cut costs. When it comes to marketing, it can be tempting to slash your budget immediately. However, doing so can actually do more harm than good in the long run.
Marketing is essential to keeping your business top-of-mind with customers and attracting new business. Moreover, in my experience, companies that maintain or increase their marketing during a recession see a greater market share and overall growth when the economy recovers.
So, what’s a marketer to do right now? Here are five low-cost ideas to help you maintain your marketing efforts during tough economic times.
1. Do not cut your marketing budget immediately.
Making sudden, drastic cuts to your marketing budget is one of the worst things you can do during an economic downturn. When you reduce or stop your marketing efforts, you are basically telling your customers that you are no longer in business. Instead, look for ways to be more efficient with your spending.
2. Audit and analyze your past performance.
Now is a great time to take a step back and evaluate your past marketing efforts. Which campaigns were successful? Why did they work? What didn’t work and for what reason? An audit can help you find areas where you may have been wasting money and give you insights into where you should focus your efforts going forward.
3. Advertise to your past leads and past customers.
When times are tough, it’s important to stay top-of-mind with your existing customer base. Focus your advertising efforts on them since they are more likely to do business with you. Reach out to them through email, direct mail, paid ads or even social media, and let them know you’re still open for business.
4. Gather more user reviews and testimonials.
When consumers are hesitant about spending their hard-earned cash, social proof can often be the incentive they need to buy from you instead of the competition. If you don’t have many (or any) user reviews or testimonials, now is the time to start collecting them. Make sure they’re prominently featured on your website and in your marketing materials.
5. Remain consistent and don’t rebrand.
It can be tempting to change up your branding in an attempt to appeal to a wider audience. Resist this temptation! Making major changes to your brand, especially in such uncertain times, can confuse and alienate both new and loyal customers alike. Stick with what works and remain consistent across all of your channels for maximum impact (and minimum cost).
No matter how severe an economic downturn may be, cutting back on marketing is almost always a mistake. Follow these five low-cost marketing ideas to keep your business top-of-mind with customers and remain competitive. The most important thing is not to panic and remember that even though times are tough right now, they won’t last forever. With careful planning and execution, you can weather this storm and come out stronger on the other side.