Marketing During Recession — 4 tips to keep growing during difficult times

You may read it in the news or hear it from your colleagues. A recession is supposed to happen soon if it hasn't already started. The USA already experienced two negative GPD growth in 2022, so does it mean that it will impact your industry & company as well? We can only advise you not to cut your marketing & communication budget! Reorient it, or invest smarter, but it's for sure not the time to cut it! 

Marketers are constantly asked to do more with less in the current economy—a difficult task at best. This is especially true considering the vast array of marketing mediums companies use daily. We always hear that the bigger the budget, the easier it is to reach your goal, maybe, or maybe not. So how can marketers make their dollars go the furthest? Here's our list of what marketers or entrepreneurs should keep working on during a recession.

1. Maintain a Great Customer Service

Think about it, with hard times come challenging moments and bad moods. Everybody's stressed about losing their position or favorite colleague, BUT an excellent customer service is a great way to stand out in a recession. It shows the well-being of your company from the outside and how strong you are. Your contact with your target or clients can be the greatest opportunity to demonstrate why you're unreplaceable. We often forget the human dimension of a company. Maintaining a solid relationship with your clients makes it harder for them to delete their subscriptions. No, it's not "manipulation." Instead, it will remind them why they choose you first. We're all in the same boat; when one pan of the economy goes down, it'll soon impact the other industries. If everybody jumps out of the ship at the same time, that's when a big crisis happens. (But this article is not an economic course, let's go back to our subject)

So during a recession, it's the best time to pamper your client & audience. To show why exactly you're unreplaceable, you could:

• Offer a coupon code to your endless returning visitor. (The one who keeps adding those black boots to its cart but never seems to order it)
• Send a personalized newsletter with specific and exciting content.
• Check your existing client database monthly and contact them to check if they need help.
• When you see something (a new tool, a potential partner for one of your clients, etc.) that could really help, just email them directly.
  

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Your clients should feel that they have you as a vital partner, especially during difficult times. It will make the good times even better!

2. Don't cut your marketing budget; change the message!

That one is trickier but wise when you think about it; let's dive in!

In a recession, everybody reacts way too quickly. Well, not everybody... mostly the stupid ones! It's certainly not the time to sell your wallet or fire your entire team! But yes, people and businesses will cut unnecessary expenses but keep consuming products and services that "seem" vital. So we're not saying that your product has to be crucial to surviving an economic crisis, but it has to appear like it is! We can ensure that you can sell anything anytime with the right marketing campaigns, messages, and targets. (Even if you're selling a pingpong table to a startup cutting 10% of its workforce, we could still find a way to sell it!) 

Yes, a company needs clients, but your clients also need you differently. During a hard time, the smarter move you could make is to be more empathetic. Feel your environment and appear accordingly: So, when it comes to branding or advertising campaigns, it's not the time to appear too high-end or too sophisticated; being humble and straight to the point will feel more adapted.

Again: We don't advise creating a new product, just to market it differently! So, how could we do it?

• First, listen to your target and feel what's the actual mood.
• Then, reorient your messages. If your target needs a specific answer to a problem, focus on it.
• Cut the fancy expensive marketing campaigns, more humble look & feel will appear more relatable. Copywriting campaigns can do just well as they convey a different atmosphere.
• Appear understanding and supportive, be funny, compassionate, and human.
  

3. Blogging & Social Media Differently

Another great way to keep a link with your audience is simply by talking to them! Again, we spoke about bad moods and everything that comes with it, but a recession is not only a time when everything goes bad; it's also when everything changes, mainly for the better! (Think positive always)

Blogging will always be a great way to reach your target through SEO but not only. Search engine optimization has the power to bring directly to you your ideal target for free; that's what we keep telling you. We can only recommend investing in "free" ways to reach your audience during hard times. But SEO is more than that. 

To rank on Google, you don't only have to publish "performing content"; you have to be human. Let's break it down:

• Google's algorithm and robots (crawl) recognize human-written VS AI-generated content.
• Therefore, you really have to put on paper your skills, knowledge, and, excuse us, your value as well.
• You need content that will genuinely answer your target's main problems to rank.
• You must be empathetic, understand your target's language and use it.
• In other words, you must think about them instead of what pleases you. 
  

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The same goes for Social Media; if you want to perform on Instagram, Linkedin, Facebook, Twitter, or TikTok, apply the same logic: Create captivating content that answers a question. You'll soon get the rewards; trust us, we're number one on Google.

4. A Quality Website to convert more easily

We see you coming, "how can a quality website could help us perform during a recession?". To answer that question, we always use the same metaphor. When walking into a street looking to buy, let's say, a couch, will you walk into a store that is well designed, well furnished, well organized, with friendly, welcoming people, or a terrible looking store that would stink, look old, dirty, with a very snobbish seller? The answer is easy.

Investing in a powerful website can only convert a lead way more efficiently when it is well executed. Not missing a client, especially during a recession, is critical to keep your cash flow going. (Not that we like to give you lectures, we're in the same boat)

Think of it as a short-term investment. A quality website will help you establish your brand, build customer trust, and convert leads into sales. 

So, here are a few tips for building your website; it should answer and present as quickly as possible the following information:

• What do you do, exactly? (This one is your offering)
• What's your value proposition? (This is one is your vision)
• Who are you? Where? 
• How can they contact you?
• How much experience do you have?
• Are you specialized in one specific industry, or are you a generalist?
• Who are the customers you serve?
• Are you easily accessible and responsive to requests for quotes and project timelines?
• What was your previous experience with past clients? 
• How did you concretely help your clients?
• What's your value proposition?
• Are you affordable or exclusive (you don't have to showcase your price, your look & feel say a lot already)
  

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If you need special help, book a free consultation with us. We could quickly tell you what to work on. It could be your value proposition, branding, copywriting, or marketing strategy. 

And always keep in mind that hard times never last. But, if we look at them with positive minds, they even bring fantastic opportunities! Cheers.