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Let’s talk about the elephant in the room. The dreaded word that everybody has been tiptoeing around. We’re here to address the importance of marketing during a recession.

Marketing during a recession can be challenging, as consumers tend to be more cautious about their spending and may be more inclined to save money rather than make purchases. However, there are several strategies that businesses can use to effectively market their products or services during a recession:

How to Effectively Leverage Marketing During A Recession

1. Understand your target audience: During a recession, it’s important to understand your target audience’s changing needs, preferences, and behaviors. Conduct market research to learn how your customers’ priorities and spending habits may have shifted in response to the economic climate.
   
2. Focus on value: In a recession, consumers are more likely to prioritize value over luxury. Emphasize the value proposition of your products or services, highlighting any cost-saving benefits or features that can help customers stretch their budgets.
   
3. Offer promotions and discounts: Providing discounts, promotions, or bundled offers can help incentivize customers to make purchases during tough economic times.
   
4. Increase your online presence: With more people spending time online, ramp up your digital marketing efforts. Consider investing in search engine optimization (SEO), paid search, social media marketing, and email marketing to reach your target audience where they are spending their time.
   
5. Provide exceptional customer service: Providing exceptional customer service can help build loyalty and keep customers coming back, even during tough economic times.
   
6. Partner with other businesses: Consider partnering with other businesses to offer joint promotions or discounts. This can help increase exposure to new audiences and build goodwill among customers.
   
7. Be adaptable: Be prepared to adjust your marketing strategies as the economic climate changes. Stay attuned to your customers’ changing needs and preferences, and be ready to pivot your marketing efforts accordingly.

What Not To Do During A Recession

During a recession one mistake we’ve seen businesses make is to reduce, or cut back the marketing budget entirely. While it’s understandable that a marketing budget may be the “first thing to go”, it oftentimes has long term negative effects on a business’ performance months down the line. Recessions are temporary.

In fact, the benefits of sticking to a steady marketing plan and budget during a recession gives your business a head-start when the dreaded recession inevitably ends. As most businesses tend to pull back, reduce, or entirely cut a marketing budget, the market share now belongs to you – and that budget stretches even further than before.

Here’s what businesses should not do during a recession when it comes to marketing.

1. Cut marketing budgets entirely: While it may be tempting to cut marketing budgets to save money during a recession, this can be a counterproductive move. By cutting marketing budgets entirely, businesses risk losing their brand awareness and customer relationships.
2. Abandon their marketing strategy: It’s important for businesses to stay committed to their marketing strategy during a recession, even if it requires some adjustments. Businesses should continue to engage with their target audience and build brand awareness to stay top of mind when customers are ready to make purchases.
3. Overpromise and underdeliver: During a recession, businesses may feel pressure to overpromise in their marketing messaging to attract customers. However, if a business cannot deliver on its promises, it risks losing customer trust and damaging its brand reputation.
4. Price gouge: Raising prices during a recession can alienate customers and damage brand loyalty. Instead, businesses should focus on providing value and affordability to their customers.
5. Neglect customer service: In tough economic times, exceptional customer service is even more important. Neglecting customer service can lead to lost sales and damage to a business’s brand reputation.
6. Ignore customer feedback: Customer feedback is crucial during a recession, as it can provide valuable insights into how a business can adapt to the changing economic climate. Ignoring customer feedback can result in missed opportunities for growth and innovation.

How VDM Can Help Your Business With Recession Marketing Strategies

VDM is built on a foundation of core values, including: accountability, flexibility, and long-term client relationships. Our team works with you to build a stellar marketing strategy designed to withstand a recession, and provide longevity to your business. We use a variety of marketing strategies for businesses during a recession, including:

Pivoting To An Online Presence

If your brick and mortar retail shop is beginning to feel the consequences of decreased spending from your customers, there is always an online market and expanded network of purchasers. VDM helps to build standalone e-commerce websites that help supplement your business income by growing an online network of purchasers, providing you with financial stability and ongoing revenue.

Effectively Leveraging Your Online Marketing Budget To Get The Best ROI

Building an effective marketing strategy is our job. We work with businesses in a variety of industries and use our years of expertise to build something that works. During a time when your competitors are reducing budgets, this gives us the opportunity to get the best return on investment for your marketing budget.

Maintain An Effective Online Presence

When it comes to online marketing, consistency is key. We don’t think short term, we build long term online marketing strategies that help your business succeed and thrive no matter the economic factors. At VDM, we’re the experts in pivoting strategies to remain effective. When you consider the longevity of your business, a recession is simply a blip, and with a team of experts guiding you through, it doesn’t have to be so scary.

We Can Weather The Storm

Contact VDM today for a free assessment and audit of your online presence, and ways to optimize so you can take the opportunity to outrank your competition, to market your products or services even in a challenging economic climate. By staying committed to your marketing strategy, providing value to customers, and prioritizing customer service, businesses can weather the economic storm and emerge stronger on the other side.

Let us help you weather the storm. We’ve got you covered.