Wise marketing practices for economic slump
After Covid-19, many economies across the world have seen an economic slowdown. Some sectors are still taking advantage of the present economic climate, but economists predict a general slump worldwide. CEOs are advised to use wise marketing practices to avoid overcompensation and let going of new opportunities. Smart usage of marketing strategies can have significant and long-lasting impact on the economy.
The companies should revise their strategic marketing plan and analyze profitability having a long-term approach to boost the growth of the company. Without even experiencing a slowdown in the economic activities, companies can use the following strategies to improve and sustain business growth.
Don’t gash your marketing budgets
Whenever the company is short of financial resources, marketing is usually the first thing to be compromised on. Reducing funds for marketing can have negative impact on the organization. When the businesses are required to build pipelines and work on new opportunities, the budgets that will support this growth aren’t equipped enough for the marketing programs to run smoothly. Companies should spend smarter rather than spending all the funds that they have acquired. They can start doing this by calculating the ROI of each campaign and program to find out which project is worthy of directing the funds towards their completion. It is important to have the right type of people who research the increasing demands and then act accordingly.
Have a clear mission for value propositions
When the economy is facing a slowdown, the companies should strategically work on their value propositions. The marketing team should realize that the customers are also facing the same shortage of cash and tight budgets, so how will they help them as a company to save time and money by buying the right product. The vision should keep the future growth of the company in mind and lay the foundation for future endeavors.
Diversify the market
Marketers need to target and segment the market into various categories to boost the results. Being focused on a single segment can rationalize marketing and enhance results for the company. It also reduces risk for the company as failure won’t rely on the whole department. With having to know that the overall economy is not doing well, shift the gear and diversify your current customer and potential customer base. If the planning and execution is done correctly, smart segmentation will help the companies to flourish during tough economic conditions also.
Fostering your customers
Keeping your customers happy and making sure that they are utilizing the company provided solution to the maximum value is very good for the business. Since financial pressure brings in a lot of stress, customers adding value for the company become very productive. Customers should be nurtured in such a situation. Having an open and two-way communication with them will go a long way as the clients are equally worried about the company which satisfies their problems with the right solution and adds value in their lives. Some products are such that the customers can’t imagine their life without them.
Decide the right size for your offering
Companies should prepare for tighter budgets by maintaining the right size for their products and services. This can be done by offering the right type of discounts and designing services at lower prices.
When the time is tough for the economy and the company, it gets difficult to sell the right-sized offering having the value which will create a win-win situation for both, the company, and the customer. To achieve this, companies should efficiently plan product marketing keeping in mind the customer’s perspective. How will the products be able to solve customer’s problems at a price which is affordable and will also help to sustain the business in the economic slowdown.
Develop a collapse proof system
Your direct sales are not the only thing affected by economic slowdown. Company’s stakeholders also have a major impact on it. They should add value strategically and work together for the growth of the company. Businesses should consider adding different partnerships if required, some key relationships, or even diversify to have partners that serve more tough markets.
Preparing a strategy for economic slowdown is not only to survive on the limited resources, but if implemented and executed efficiently, it can build a foundation for the future growth. Customers spend their money very wisely and expect good return on it. Marketing is more strategic these days and decisions made have an impact on long-run business growth, so everything has to be thoroughly thought and planned to ensure future development of the organization.
