Great! The whole world has gone seemingly crazy and you
don’t know what to do. Information is changing hour by hour and even minute by
minute. It’s difficult to know what to do, what kind of effect this will have
on your business, how to anticipate, prepare for and mitigate the losses that
are inevitably coming your way. It is undisputable that every single action
that you take (or don’t take) will affect your business for weeks, months and
even years to come. That is really heavy huh? Well, don’t panic. What goes down
must come up. You will very likely make it through this. Many of us have been
through similar times before (2008 was not that long ago and we’re still here).
Whether this is your first time through an economic downturn
or you’ve been here before, here are some things that you need to keep in mind
as you are putting together your actions steps.
- Don’t Stop Marketing - Do NOT completely halt all of your marketing efforts – if you can INCREASE them and capitalize on the opportunity for maximum exposure
- Niche Market Analysis - Do a deep dive analysis of your target audience and their behaviors during economic downturn
- Customers First - Focus heavily on your customer base and internal file as they are the most likely to continue to buy from you.
- Direct Market - Increase overall conversion rates by utilizing direct marketing methods that targets only people who are most likely to continue to buy during an economic downturn.
- TRACK TRACK TRACK - Analyze and track every marketing action and the return on investment
- Be in it for the “Long Haul” - Buckle your seatbelt and get ready for a long ride – you may not see immediate results, stick with it!
If you implement these 6 actions then you will be more
prepared and better off than most businesses who will cut their marketing
completely on a knee jerk reaction to the current situation. Over 400,000 small
businesses went bankrupt or permanently closed in the last recession. Let’s
take the lessons from the past and apply the successful actions today.
Pandemic Marketing Rule #1: Don’t Stop Marketing
When economic downturn strikes the last thing that you want
to do is halt all of your marketing efforts. Promotion is the bloodline of your
business, cutting the supply will severely damage or kill your overall business
especially during a time of crisis. Building and maintaining your brand is the
way your customers and potential customers will be able to maintain their
recognition and trust in you as an organization. They need to know that you are
here and you are weathering the storm. You can also utilize this time to
capitalize on exposure. Most business’s first action will be to cut marketing
budgets and promotional outflow. This
allows you the space, time and audience to make a maximum impact and impression
on your target audience.
Pandemic Marketing Rule #2: Niche Market Analysis
Take a deep dive analysis of your target audience and
specifically their buying behaviors during an economic downturn. There is an
article put out by the Harvard Business Review that goes into the psychology of
consumer behavior and purchasing habits during a recession. https://hbr.org/2009/04/how-to-market-in-a-downturn-2.
“It’s critical to track how customers reassess priorities, reallocate funds,
switch brands and redefine value”. From
groups that will “slam on the brakes” and not buy anything to people who “live
for today” and continue purchases without missing a beat. Assess what this
means for your organization to build the most effective marketing plan to the
segments within your niche market. You have the raw data and there are
resources available to assist you in analyzing that data to build your
effective pandemic marketing strategy.
Pandemic Marketing Rule #3: Customer First
The good ole 80% of your sales come from 20% of your
customers is so important during this time. Hang onto those customers for dear
life, they will be your largest asset during this time. You cannot effectively
retain their business and loyalty if you aren’t communicating with them. And
let’s face it – every organization in the country is sending emails on how they
are handling COVID19 including your florist so let’s not pretend that email is
going to cut the mustard. Focus the bulk of your marketing efforts on your
existing clients.
Pandemic Marketing Rule #4: Direct Market
This may be the most important rule of all. With today’s cutting-edge
technology, we are all in a much better position than we were during the Great
Recession. In addition to focusing on your customer base, you can pin-point
target market exactly who is interested in your products or services
right now. You can eliminate the prospecting guessing game focus only on people
who are visiting your website. Identify the anonymous visitors through modern
technology like LEADMatch and send them a direct mail piece (heck everyone
is going to be home anyway). You can also retarget those visitors digitally
through the Google Display Network and social media platforms such as Facebook
and Instagram. Focusing on only the people who are browsing your products and
services right now will allow for more effective use of your marketing dollars
and overall higher conversion rates. Utilize direct marketing in a very
targeted manner to ensure you are staying in front of the appropriate base and
creating the serendipitous moment of being in the right place at the right time
– when they’re ready to buy!
Pandemic Marketing Rule #5: TRACK TRACK TRACK
You need to track everything that you do (period). Tracking
will give you full visualization into market infiltration, exposure,
engagements, conversions and overall marketing impact. It will also provide you
with the visual transparency that you need in order to test and tweak messages,
call to actions, market segments, etc. Gather the data and analyze constantly.
Once you know what is working strengthen those actions and knock off any waste.
The ultimate goal is to refine your marketing strategy and enhancing best
practices continuously to ensure overall success and sustainability. Be willing
to adapt and pivot quickly as data and trends become more and more clear. Trust
the process.
Pandemic Marketing Rule #6: Be in it for the Long Haul
This situation may have seemingly exploded overnight and the
impacts are hard and fast. This will not be the same story for the rebuild.
Much like a natural disaster, it takes a short period of time for catastrophic
damage but a lot of time, patience and hard work for the repairs and overall
reconstruct to take place. Buckle up and be ready to ride this thing through.
There is no “quick fix” here. Marketing is a long game anyway, now it will be
even longer. Have patience and know that every effort that you make right now
will pay off in the long run. Do everything in your power to keep up the
consistent outflow. It will not only keep your business alive during this time
but it will almost certainly ensure future growth.
Need help marketing during the pandemic? Check out our
Partner Locator: http://directmail2.com/partner-locator.
Expert strategists are standing by to help you through this crisis. We have the
tools and guidance that you need in order to make it through.
Source Links
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/304099
Please give us a call at 440-946-0606
Or visit our website here for more information.
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