The current cost of living crisis that permeates the UK is affecting all areas of our lives – not least our business decisions.
With everything rising in cost, from everyday essentials through to niche business products, people are cutting back on spending – this includes our customers in the business arena.
How do you keep your products or services selling in these hard economic times? Can you remain a needed expense when your customers look to limit their budget?
As long as you do the right things, the answer is thankfully ‘yes’.
Why Marketing in a Downturn is Important
Like your customers, you will be looking at your own budget and looking where you can cut back – it’s easy to look at marketing and think, ‘that’s non-essential, that can go’.
Stop! Marketing in a downturn is the best thing you can do for your business.
In business, you never stand still – you are either growing, or you’re shrinking. Ask yourself this: in which direction do I want to be going?
Exactly.
Marketing when things are tight keeps you visible to your audience, and visibility is essential to maintain trust and remain on the radar. People will need you, and when they do, they have to be able to find you.
They will reach out to the business that has remained consistent and confident. They will choose to work with a business that hasn’t faded to a distant memory.
If you have kept up your marketing, they will look to you.
The Value of Value - How an Economic Downturn Affects Attitude
The longer the economic difficulties, the more people’s mindsets turn to financial control. Everyone feels the pinch, and they look to cut costs and search for cheaper options. Their eye is always on their spending, making sure every penny is used in the best way possible.
People spend where they see value.
Value means maximising their spend. It doesn’t mean you have to be the cheapest product or service on the market – far from it – instead, it means that when someone comes to you, they get everything they could possibly need from the experience.
They trust you. They feel confident in you. They feel that they, themselves, have made the right choice by picking you.
Value is valuable!
And it’s your marketing that will ensure your customers see your value.
How to Market Your Business in The “Cost of Living Crisis”
So… how do you market when everyone is tightening their purse strings?
Keep Up with the Basics
Consistency is one of the key aspects to good marketing, so it’s important that you don’t allow some financial worries to derail your well-laid plans. Keeping up with the basics means maintaining your campaign strategies with the following cost-effective marketing methods:
Consistency is one of the key aspects to good marketing, so it’s important that you don’t allow some financial worries to derail your well-laid plans. Keeping up with the basics means maintaining your campaign strategies with the following cost-effective marketing methods:
- Social media
- Affiliate Marketing
- Networking
- Emails
Create Value-Based Content
With the basics done, you can rest assured that your brand isn’t falling off the radar. The next step is to demonstrate your value, making it so that you stand out from the crowd as not the cheapest option, but the one that maximises their investment in you.
Create content that actually helps or offers insight. Cut the fluff and the esoteric pieces that are more about stroking your ego than really making someone else’s life better, and drive home content that’s engaging, entertaining, and really has something to say.
Brand Awareness
Keep reaching out to build your following, increasing your brand awareness in authentic and consistent ways.
Take the time to plan a clear brand awareness strategy that utilises your content and communication channels as fully as possible.
Strategise for the Long-Term
No matter how dark the sky seems, it will clear. Have one eye on your longer-term plans, and when things will shift – and they will – you will be among the first to adapt as they do.
Create a three-month, six-month, and 12-month plan and revisit them often to make sure nothing has gone stale. Adapt to changes and keep your marketing strategy fresh.
Low Cost vs Costly Marketing Activities
While marketing in a downturn is a must, not all marketing is right for an economic squeeze. There are valuable lower-cost marketing activities and more risky, costly choices. Here are some avenues on which you should focus, and those that are options better for a more stable time:
Where to Invest in an Economic Downturn
- SEO - On-page SEO is easily and cheaply achieved and has an excellent return, improving organic search results for greater visibility.
- Blogging - Put your knowledge and insight to good use and create valuable human engagement content that also boosts SEO.
- Podcasts - Like blogging, podcasts develop a following of those who want to listen to the things you have to say. There’s no doubt that 2024 is going to see a great rise in podcast popularity.
- Emails - What better way to stay in touch with your audience than with email? It’s a personal, noninvasive way to remind them who you are and what you offer, and you can adapt the content to suit segments of your audience in a way that isn’t easily done with other media. Emails efficiently cover all aspects of your business - news, product launches, promotions, and more - for very little cost outlay.
What to Avoid When Budgets Are Tight
- Online advertising - Online ads are pricy and if your strategy is off, it’s easy to spend thousands and get very little return.
- Print advertising - In the right sectors and at the right time, print advertising can be a strong marketing avenue, but in an economic downturn and without a watertight plan, the limited reach of print ads, combined with the lack of control over the audience, make them a big no-no.
- Solus emails - Solus emails are distributed by advertising partners to their audience on your behalf. Unless you are in a very specific niche, the cost-to-return ratio isn’t good enough to consider when money is tight.
Pushing Through The Difficult Times
Spending time and money on marketing when so many of your potential leads pull back with their own budgeting concerns is hard and can feel like the wrong path, but with the right strategy, you’ll stay on the top of the list for the right people and will be left standing proud when the winds change for the better.
