02.12
The UK economy still isn’t in great shape and we are still regularly asked for tips on marketing through a recession. The simple answer is, there is no simple answer, but there are a few things that are worth keeping in mind:
1. It’s a sad fact that most businesses aren’t particularly well run. If you’re finding it hard, your competitors probably are too. If you have a business plan, a budget and a reasonable grasp on your cash flow, you can stay one step ahead by acting sooner and with more certainty than the companies that don’t. If you don’t have a plan and a budget written down somewhere, you need one.
2. Keep things simple. Why should customers buy from you? How will they benefit? What makes you different from your competition? Make sure your messages are simple, clear, compelling and focussed on how your customers will benefit.
3. Review your marketing budget. Do you know what’s working and what isn’t? If not, it’s time to start measuring – recessions are no time to be wasting money. If you are going to reduce your marketing budget by half, make sure it’s the half that isn’t working!
4. If what you are doing now isn’t working, don’t keep doing it! Change something. Try something new.
5. If you have cash and you want to grow – start investing in your future. There is no better time for gaining market share than during a recession. Competitors are weak, prices are low, suppliers are willing to negotiate and new customers are coming up for grabs as their existing suppliers go bust. If you don’t go and get them, someone else will.
If you’d like to know how we can help you share the burden, call us on 01803 616100 and we’ll arrange a no obligations chat over a cuppa.
[Opinion: Jim Green - MD]
Jim
With the latest figures appearing in today’s WMN showing an increase in the rate of unemployment, I imagine that most business will be fixed on surviving, and simply trying to hold on. They are undoubtedly holding out for some (marginal) prospect that things can’t get any worse. The excesses of the 2000s will not have equipped business for the current phase and all that softness will now have been eaten away – assuming that is that some repairs were done to the proverbial roof whilst it was sunny (I hope this is not borrowing too heavily from some of the politicians who were so quick to remind us of the principle – bloody obvious if you ask me).
Now as someone who has worked in the service sector all my life – from recruitment to being an undertaker to legal services (where I now head up a sports law team) – I have witnessed some truly memorable leaders who were prepared to take risk when they knew there was likely to be or there was a recession on foot. They lived and breathed their businesses and were not afraid to take tough decisions when it really mattered.
The problem for me is that there is simply not enough true leaders to make a difference and whilst I am not advocating that there should be a one size fits all mode of training, nevertheless most people who have trained on the job just don’t have the skill set to lead their troops over the hill and take the fight to their competitors, to improve the lot of their customers.
If business truly want to make a difference they should look to those people who are prepared to take risks and take the business into unchartered territory. Sorry, I am not forgetting the importance of marketing or spend but for me it starts with leaders in the broadest sense.
Thanks Julian – I couldn’t agree more. For me, within the services sector it’s all about differentiation and being able to demonstrate value. Hopefully I’m practising what I preach by taking DNA into London during a recession. It’s a calculated risk that has given us access to a new market where we offer something unique, and has exposed us to new techniques and learning that will directly benefit our clients.
All the best,
Jim