Part
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Part
01
Marketing Recession Strategies
Marketing strategies that marketers and marketing firms can use to help their businesses avoid the effects of a recession are focusing on profitable effectiveness, thinking in the longer-term, securing customers before the recession, deciding what part of the budget will help in demand generation, focusing on brand value, and making employees a key part of marketing as they can promote a brand cost-effectively. Detailed information is in the next section.
I) FOCUS ON PROFITABLE EFFECTIVENESS
- To help their businesses avoid the effects of a recession, marketers and marketing firms should focus on profitable effectiveness.
- Marketers need to put a lot of effort into ensuring that their firms are making a profit rather than having empty growth.
- This can be used to avoid the effects of a recession as focusing on profitable effectiveness will ensure that the dollar spent can bring returns and cushion the firm against the effects of the recession. This is because the dollar spent cannot be used on something else as the "economic principle of opportunity cost mandates."
II) RESIST THINKING ONLY IN THE SHORT TERM
- To help their businesses avoid the effects of a recession, marketers and marketing firms should resist the urge to think only in the short term.
- During a recession, many marketers are tempted to just think about what will generate revenue tomorrow rather than in several months to come.
- This is because companies tend to have direct control over the money that goes out but not that which is coming in, and they will respond to this by cutting costs. However, cutting costs should be done strategically so that the share of voice is maintained at or above the share of market during a recession.
- This can be used to avoid the effects of a recession as profitability improvement in the longer-term greatly outweighs short term cost-cutting in many cases.
III) SECURE CUSTOMERS BEFORE THE RECESSION
- To help their businesses avoid the effects of a recession, marketers and marketing firms should try to secure customers as the recession approaches.
- The focus here should be to keep a marketing firm's current customers happy. The recession will also affect these current customers, as they will likely experience potential losses and budget cuts, and maybe looking to downsize.
- To keep these customers, marketers and marketing firms need to be ready to explain to them as to how specific products or services can help customers' businesses thrive even in a recession.
- Marketers and marketing firms also need to be sensitive to the struggles faced by their customers. This is because identifying with them makes them more likely to identify with the company and help to ride out the recession.
IV) FIGURE OUT WHAT SECTION OF THE BUDGET WILL DRIVE DEMAND GENERATION
- To help their businesses avoid the effects of a recession, marketers and marketing firms should figure out what budget percentage will drive demand generation.
- This is because budget cuts are very likely to occur during the recession, and marketers will have to defend the part of a budget used to build their brand.
- Knowing how much is needed to drive demand generation will help marketers and firms to bring in new business, as "those dollars spent will yield successful business results".
V) MAKE EMPLOYEES A KEY PART OF MARKETING
- Marketers and marketing firms should make employees a key part of their marketing. This can be done by ensuring that they only have dedicated employees who support the brand and its products enough to purchase them.
- This way, employees are likely to understand and promote the brand as great advocates. They can tell others about their real experiences with the brand and cost-effectively promote the brand.
- When employees buy-in with a brand and spread the word on how good it is, it serves as free media for marketers and marketing firms.
VI) MARKETERS SHOULD FOCUS ON BRAND VALUE
- In good economic times, customers are more open to trying new product offers. However, in a downturn, consumers focus on value. Marketers should, therefore, understand the value that customers put on them.
- A company's brand has more to do with how it is perceived than how the company defines itself.
- This can be used to avoid the effects of a recession as knowing the brand value enables marketers to be in a better position to ride out the recession.