Marketing Should Be The Last Thing to Go

When businesses and non-profits feel the stretch of the dollar and their bottom line is negatively impacted, the first instinct is, more often than not, to cut the marketing budget.  Many view marketing as the easiest line item to slash, but it can be the hardest to recoup.  During a recession or a post-pandemic, the worst thing a business can do is go dark.  Saving a penny at that moment could cost you thousands down the road. Cutting your marketing budget can hurt your business long-term, even when it might help it slightly in the immediate future.

Before you decide to reduce or eliminate your marketing budget, consider the following:

1. What if your competitors keep their marketing intact?

You may consider cutting your marketing budget, but if your competitors don’t, where does that leave you? When you reduce your marketing budget, you decrease how and how often your customers see you — allowing your competitor(s) to move in.  Your customers notice if you’re NOT there for them.

2. Your customers can support you if you market your message right

The return on investment for your marketing strategy is still valid during tough economic times. When the economy is booming, your strategy is probably to drive sales and build relationships.  However, when everyone seems to be tightening their belts, you can and should be more focused on the relationship-build side of things – keep your customers invested in your success. They love you as much as you love them, and they don’t want to see your business struggle. Your marketing team can help you show the right amount of vulnerability and transparency, while still sending the message that you are still in business, offering the services they’ve come to expect and admire.

3. Your marketing team protects you

People often think about marketing as advertising, but it is so much more.  Your marketing team helps to tell your brand’s story.  That story should reflect market research on what your customers are searching for and are still willing to pay for.  As with COVID, businesses needed (and still need) to shift their messaging strategies to be reassuring, sensitive and empathetic.  Having a marketing team you trust can help shift and shape your message so that your mission and services are promoted – keeping your brand top of mind.

4. Your customers don’t want to feel abandoned

Your marketing strategy strengthens your relationship with your audience. A reduction in your budget can leave your customers wondering where you went—or worse, if your business has or is in the process of shutting down.

Show them you’re there.  Your messaging may be different.  Your tactics of reaching them may be different.  But your brand should not be different.  Your marketing team and strategies can tell your audience what you’re doing to keep their best interests in mind.  

5. It may be time to launch that new product

What?  Spend time and resources to launch a new product?  Yes!  You have less competition during a recession or tough economy, as other companies are focusing on staying afloat. They aren’t putting their time and effort into launching new products or growing their business. If you are in the position to, and you have ideas ready to launch, work with your marketing team to put your new product out into the world.  You may even be able to better negotiate advertising rates as media outlets are also looking to stay afloat.

6. You will not bounce back as easily

If you reduce your marketing efforts, it leaves you in a difficult position when you and your customers are ready to return to the economic cycle.  You’ve spent a great deal of time and money growing your brand’s reach. Rather than scaling back, discuss a strategy with your marketing team to find ways to keep your reach consistent. Once the economy is on an upswing, you will appreciate not having lost months — or years — of progress.

7. You’ll have a harder time reaching your overall business goals

No matter what the financial landscape, you want to continue moving forward. Your marketing team can help you keep your goals in mind and find new strategies to meet them. Don’t underestimate a marketing team’s versatility and the potential to keep your business growing, even when the economy is less than ideal.

Talk strategy before you make cuts!

Cut the panic, not the budget! Take a look at your budget prior to the pandemic or recession.  Where is there padding?  Where can you streamline operations?  Before you decide to cut anything from your marketing budget, discuss all options with your marketing team.  A versatile, professional and experienced team can and will work with you to achieve your goals – or define new milestones and benchmarks.  The true bottom line is your marketing team is your life line to the ‘outside world’. In reality, if you don’t succeed, they don’t succeed.  Show them that you have faith in their expertise and they’ll show you a positive ROI.

Attention Startups! Effective and Efficient Marketing is a Must!

We all would love to win the lottery.  And in the entrepreneur and startup world, landing a large investment at the onset is just as likely as winning said lottery.  So, it’s likely that you don’t have a great deal of cash to spend on marketing for your business. And that sucks.  But, you can still develop an effective and efficient, successful marketing plan – even with limited resources.  How?

The majority of startups don’t have enough money to hire a marketing expert right away. Therefore, it’s up to you to determine the best route to take to get the word out regarding your startup. If you’re working with a very small budget, the road to success can get tough. But, keep the faith because here are a few guidelines that will get you started in the right direction.

1. Solidify your brand.

You must have a solid concept regarding what your business is, what you desire to accomplish, and why it even exists before you can even think about launching a successful marketing campaign. Make sure you know exactly who you are, since understanding this will greatly help you determine how to position both you and your company.

·         Stay true to yourself.

Be yourself and stay true to your original business concept. Show people who you really are and don’t pretend to be somebody you’re not.

·         Determine why you’re unique and what sets you apart from your competitors.

This is your key selling point. What can you offer the world in a special and unique way that no one else can? If you’ve ever watched Shark Tank, you know how detrimental it is to show up without a solid understanding of what sets your business apart and what the competitive landscape is.  The Sharks will rip you apart…and so will your prospects.

·         Be consistent when presenting your image.

Don’t try to change your image to attract a variety of audiences. Present a consistent overall look and feel so you’re crystal clear about who you are.

If your business is experiencing an identity crisis, it’s best to address it prior to marketing your company. If a brand is continually changing their approach or image, it can be a huge red flag to potential customers. While every startup will inevitably face challenges that will make them rethink or even second-guess certain things, branding is the one aspect that you can control 100 percent right from the start.

Simple tip: Use the same company name and your name consistently.  If people know you as James T. Kirk, then use that name everywhere in exactly the same way.  Don’t be James on your business card and then Jim on LinkedIn.  The same is true with your company name.  

2. Clearly define your key goals and metrics.

The less money you have to work with, the more you need to be completely clear and detailed concerning your goals. Of course, you want to make money, but not every marketing endeavor is going to make money. Therefore, you need to figure out all the potential outcomes in terms of what you actually consider ‘success’; whether that means a certain amount of lead generations, more subscribers to your list, or more traffic to your website. All of these things combined mean more publicity regarding your startup and can eventually result in making more money.

3. Determine your budget.

This is a complicated, yet simple step. Determining your budget simply means figuring out how much cash you can actually afford to spend on marketing and how much time you can spend both planning and managing your marketing campaign?

This step often confuses people since they don’t exactly know the amount of money it requires to achieve results. It’s kind of like “which came first, the chicken or the egg” scenario.  Unfortunately, no magic number exists. For most startups, this dollar amount boils down to putting aside only as much as you can spare.

Tip:  Focus on internet spending first.  Other marketing avenues can come once money flows in.

4. Choose your target niche.

Although your products may appeal to the masses, that also presents somewhat of a problem when marketing your business. Overall, the more customers you desire to reach, the more money and time you will need to pull it off. Choose a segment, or niche, of your potential audience and focus on that. Not only will it decrease your marketing expenses, it makes sense regarding messaging.

5. Follow and engage with your audience through social media.

In order to succeed, you need to market your brand where your potential customers are. If your niche is in the fashion industry, using Pinterest is a great way to connect to your female-based audience. However, if you want to reach young male gamers, Pinterest is not the ideal social media channel to use.

Study the various social media outlets and find out where your target audience hangs out so you can connect with them. Spend your time and resources on the ones that are most conducive to your brand.

6. Focus on quality content and audience interaction.

Although you may not have a great deal to offer people in terms of discounts and giveaways in order to attract potential customers, you can present good, quality content that’s related to your target audience.

The most successful brands continually share interesting content that’s frequently not obvious advertising or a direct call for action. They often post and share ideas that their audience is most interested in. Interact with your audience. Directly connect with them by responding to their comments. This is huge in terms of building a long, trustworthy relationship with your potential customers.

7. Know your partners and potential partners.

Find key experts within your particular industry and start interacting with them. Follow your brand’s influencers on Facebook and Twitter without coming right out and asking them to directly promote you. Simply continue to comment and share the good content they keep posting. The key is to develop a solid relationship with people. You can do that by continuing to publish useful content that your audience can benefit from. Over time, one of your brand’s influencers will eventually notice it and then share it, which results in getting you exposed.

8. Listen and observe.

You can’t simply launch a marketing campaign and receive instant results. It doesn’t work that way in the real world. You must listen and pay close attention to what’s actually happening.  See what is trending in the news and on social media.

Chances are your initial marketing efforts will probably fail. Successful marketing is all about refining your methods so you can determine what works best for you. Go back and evaluate each step of your campaign. What areas can you improve upon? Are you targeting the wrong audience? Are you using the wrong social media channels for your particular niche?

Marketing your startup can be overwhelming.  There are so many components to consider that you may feel like a failure before you even start.  Don’t go it alone.  Enlist some help.  SK Consulting would be happy to help you effectively and efficiently navigate the marketing landscape.  From concept to creation to implementation – we’re there with you every step of the way!