During a recession, consumers and businesses alike are navigating troubled waters, so as a business it’s key that you remain consistent. There will be tough decisions to make. Whilst there will be many businesses, including yours and your competitors, reducing marketing activity, budgets will get cut and headcount reductions will happen – stay focused on maintaining and sharpening your brand creating relevant propositions and let your audience know that you’re there.
Consistently articulate the value of working with you during a downturn through clear messaging and positioning. Take every opportunity to sharpen your messaging, making it positive and relevant to your clients pain points to increase visibility, improve brand awareness and address client needs through your products or services where your competitors fall short.
Amazon sales grew by 28% in 2009 during the ‘great recession’. The tech company continued to innovate with new products during the slumping economy, notably with new Kindle products which helped to grow market share.
Keeping your marketing consistent, positive, and relevant is important to gain traction with new audiences and reassure your loyal clients. Feedback is a gift! If you’re not regularly seeking client feedback either formally via NPS or customer satisfaction monitoring or informally via your sales and client success teams you need to do this today. You cannot underestimate what you can glean from your clients to help you understand where you can help them further and identify opportunities to reframe your products or services to meet market needs and exploit a niche to drive future growth.