In times of economic stress, like the current COVID-19 economic situation, most businesses panic, often making extreme and illogical decisions including cutting marketing spend.
This is the exact opposite of what is required. Keeping fear at bay and viewing economic uncertainty as an opportunity unleashes growth strategies which, as your competitors panic, contract and cut costs, will result in even more positive outcomes for you. Now is the time to work smarter and harder; taking strategic steps to increase income and operating with 10X levels of action.
When the going gets tough, keep calm and carry on marketing
Keeping calm and carrying on marketing when the going gets tough, will not only help you survive, but possibly thrive too. In fact, increasing your marketing is our top tip for increasing income in times of economic stress:
- Increase your marketing
- Adjust your offering
- Strengthen your team
1. Increase your marketing
As Peter Drucker said, “Marketing and innovation produce results; all the rest are costs.” Even so, during tough economic times most businesses view marketing as a cost and reduce their marketing spend. However, strategic, proactive businesses don’t just maintain their current spend, they increase it. It is these businesses – that market themselves strongly while their competitors are simultaneously making cuts – that do well in tough economic times, achieving even greater long-term return on their marketing investments.
While cutting marketing budgets may save costs in the short-term, it also deprives you of income in the short-term and risks your long-term market share as existing and potential customers forget about you. On the other hand, increasing your marketing spend offers a great opportunity to promote, increase share of voice, strengthen your brand, boost sales and claim additional market share.
It’s imperative to remember that loyal customers are your most valuable source of cash flow and organic growth, and marketing to them cannot be neglected. Reassuring messages that reinforce an emotional connection with your brand and demonstrate empathy are vital.
A well-thought-out, well-executed and adaptive marketing strategy is important at the best of times, yet critically important during an economic slowdown. It is the number one way to increase your income.
2. Adjust your offering
If you aren’t already viewing your company’s operations, offerings and service-levels through the lens of your customer, then it is imperative to do so now.
How are your customers reassessing priorities, reallocating funds, switching brands, and redefining value? Is your current offering viewed as essential, indulgent, postponeable or expendable? Can you streamline or adapt your product portfolio, improve affordability, bolster trust or add essential services without negatively affecting your long-term position?
Look at what you can do better for your customers – with an aim of outperforming your competitors and doing more with less – and get every employee thinking this way. Improvements from an operational efficiency, product offering/quality and customer service perspective will increase employee bandwidth and customer satisfaction, resulting in greater customer loyalty, serviceability and income.
3. Strengthen your team
In uncertain times, it is time to shore up your team. It is time to reassure and inspire your employees, uniting them towards a common goal; after all everyone will likely be required to work harder even if only to achieve the same results. It is time to get rid of those employees with poor performance levels and/or attitudes (replacing, if necessary, from a growing pool of valuable staff let go by panicking companies). And it is time to reassure your invaluable workers that you have their back and to prioritise talent even if it costs more money in the short-term.
All for one and one for all: you need dedicated employees willing to give 110% to the ongoing success of your business, and in return you need to pursue an offensive, expansionary strategy that instils confidence, customer-centricity, resilience and recognition within your teams.
Addressing employee concerns, prioritising customer experience and driving operational efficiencies will improve morale, reduce costs, increase outputs and enable you to become more efficient overall. The companies that strengthen their teams and outputs and enhance their customer experience will see an increase in brand loyalty, customer base and income.
When all is said and done, these three steps will not only help you increase income, enhance your customer experience and improve your competitiveness when the going gets tough, but will also place you in a stronger position when the economy recovers.
Image: Kalen Emsley
