Maintain and grow share of mind
Studies have shown that maintaining “share of mind” during an economic downturn directly relates to current and future sales, and costs less than rebuilding it after a period of marketing inactivity. Companies that invested more in marketing in a down market realize increases in their ROI versus companies that maintained or cut marketing spend.
Stop and Listen to your customers
Your customers are feeling the effects of the recession and as such their needs may have changed. Stop and listen to your customers to determine what your brand, product(s) or service(s) can do to support customers living through the economic slowdown.
Know your customers
Knowing your customers is more important than ever. Invest in gaining a better understanding of your customers’ desires, behaviours, etc. Devise, test, execute and track micro-targeting strategies. Once your understand your customers, develop personas to embed your customers as people within your organization.
Focus on building existing customer relationships
Shift the focus away from new acquisitions to targeting your highest value customers and advocacy groups. Build stronger relationships with your most valuable customers to increase brand affinity, loyalty and word of mouth recommendations.
Offer increased value
Increase your brand affinity and visibility by offering value added marketing to consumers. Use free content, widgets, tools, exclusive access, etc. to offer more value to consumers in their marketing interactions with the brand.
Leverage and integrate content across multiple channels and multiple audiences
For greater efficiency and synergy, it is critical to ensure that all marketing departments and channels are leveraging one another’s efforts and content. For example, a promotion to high value customers may also be adapted as an employee incentive program.
Quality over Quantity
Panic leads to looking for lowest cost alternatives and suppliers, but don’t sacrifice quality for quantity – you get what you pay for.
Keep communicating with your consumers
Consumers who have opted in to receive communications with you have established a valuable relationship with the brand. Despite budgeting constraints, continue to communicate with them on a regular basis, or they may move on.
Employ a low cost and trusted form of advertising – your customers
An often overlooked low cost and trusted form of advertising is word of mouth from your customers. Expand your marketing team to include customer advocates / influencers and support their role with the right knowledge, tools and incentives.
Stay authentic to your brand
During times of uncertainty, a stable and authentic brand can be more appealing to customers. Customers will have higher expectations on those brands and products that are consistent, especially in times of change.