Small and medium-sized businesses in particular, are suffering the consequences of the global pandemic, interrupted supply chains and Russia's terrible war against Ukraine. The explosive rise in energy costs is placing an additional burden on everyone.
As a result, in order to cope with new problems that arise every day, many managers and employees are working at the breaking point. In this tense situation, it is important not to do more but to do the right thing. In these times, marketing must support sales even more efficiently and reduce the feeling of uncertainty.
Marketing budgets are often the first to be cut. However, studies show that the companies that do not cut their marketing in times of crisis but reallocate their budgets are the most successful in the long run. By continuing to market your products, you increase the chance of being top of mind with customers when they are ready to spend more money. Use the crisis as an opportunity and focus your marketing activities on the essentials with our 5 tips.
Tip 1: Clear message - If you confuse, you lose.
Make sure your message is clear. The customer who does not know exactly what problem you are solving has no reason to do business with you.
Do the self-test. You overhear a conversation. A man asks two women about their work. One replies, "I'm a real estate agent." The other: "I have developed a method to buy and sell houses stress-free."
Who would you trust with your house?
Therefore: Especially now, when the hurdles to get into the business are higher, you have to convince with your clear value proposition.
Tip 2: Show empathy
In tense times, empathy is even more important for successful customer relationships. Empathy means understanding how your customers really feel and having clarity about what problem is on their minds. When empathy is involved, customers are happier, so the interaction feels natural because it is based on an emotional connection.
Tip 3: Present your plan
Your customers are overworked and face new challenges every day. To make your offer a relief instead of a burden, show your customers how easy it is to do business with you and what processes you have in place to make it happen. Limit your plan to three steps, for example: 1. a non-binding conversation, 2. alignment of the concept, 3. implementation of the marketing plan.
Successful action requires a concrete plan. Imagine you and your customer are separated by a river. You stand on one side of the river with your offer and want to get your customer on your side. For this to succeed, you throw large stones into the river that your customer can step on to get to you. In a figurative sense, a plan has exactly this function: it creates a bridge between interest and closure.
Tip 4: Don't neglect content marketing
Content marketing is an easy and inexpensive way to keep reminding your customers about your services. Offer important added value with blog posts, white papers, Q&As or ebooks. Be sure always to choose topics that will move your customers forward. Be empathetic and focus on the problem you want to solve for your customers.
Tip 5: Automate what you can
There are many reasons to automate your marketing. The main argument in tough times: efficiency. Marketing automation can reduce staff costs, leaving your team with more time for strategic projects. The well-known problem that marketing and sales only sporadically coordinate with each other is solved by common software. The automation software acts like a studio where sales and marketing staff meet virtually to design and execute a campaign together. Thus, marketing automation can increase sales productivity by 14.5% and reduce marketing costs by 12.2%. Lastly, automated reporting saves time while giving you an accurate overview of what is working and where the levers are that you can still tweak.
If you follow our tips, you will not work more but smarter and be prepared for hard times. We will be happy to advise you on how you can make your marketing even more efficient. Book an appointment right here, and we can create a roadmap for you on how to get there faster and win new customers. Look at these times as an opportunity to improve your situation. We will support you in this.
