An economic slowdown brings fear and uncertainty to any business owner. The common reaction is to bury the hatchet and wait for things to ‘smoothen out’. However, from a marketing perspective, you can actually take advantage of this situation to boost your business.
Let me explain my three reasons why it’s great to do marketing in an economic slowdown:
1 – Fear
During an economic slowdown, everybody is fearful. However, this situation can result in some amazing opportunities for your business.
When business owners see themselves in the middle of an economic slowdown, their first move is dive into spreadsheets, reports, charts and see where they can reduce costs. This is a natural business survival technique practiced by most business owners.
The first thing they realize is the amount of money spent in marketing. They think that cutting down that amount will save them money. Falsely, they think that by cutting off this ‘non-essential’ expenditure, the bottom line will show a profit.
This is a huge mistake. Nevertheless, most business owners will do it anyway and this is a fantastic opportunity for you. If you keep advertising, promoting and marketing your business it becomes easier for you to get the attention of your customers. Simply because fewer people are advertising, the cheaper your marketing costs become and the less you have to compete for your prospect’s attention. This results in better and cheaper customer acquisition.
Let me give you an example, when fewer people advertise and compete with you on Google, your cost per click will drop. You are also able to get better deals with, for example, trade journals, magazines and radio which means lower and better advertising rates that you could never get during boom times.
So, if you practice effective marketing you have the potential to actually reduce dramatically the cost of your marketing and client acquisition by building a market share and acquiring more customers.
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2 – Cost Cutting
Your competitors in a slowdown will look at business costs and do everything they can to reduce it. Many might reduce the quality of their products, get cheaper and inferior quality supplies, and they might compromise their usual customer service levels.
Customers that, for many years, were used to a certain product quality and customer service will be unhappy. These unsatisfied customers will now start looking for alternatives. And this is where you get in! If you actively do marketing and promotion of your products and services; if you have excellent products and customer service, then this is the opportunity to get these unsatisfied clients that were let down by your competitors.
Therefore, the second reason why I think an economic slowdown is a fantastic opportunity for your business.
3 – Sales People
Companies usually see salespeople and marketing team as a dispensable asset. When they need to cut costs these are the ones that usually are dismissed because they are mistakenly not seen as having an essential role to run the business.
That’s where you get in. This is a huge opportunity for you to prosper. How? You can start recruiting this top gun marketing and sales people. This is a huge opportunity you wouldn’t have during a boom time.
By recruiting these people and bring them into your business, you are also bringing in new skills, new concepts, and a huge amount of knowledge that these people got from your competitors. The best part is, the fact that they have a great relationship with competitor’s customers and clients. As a result, they could end up bringing these customers over to your business.
Therefore, keep an eye open to recruit talent and get their connections to grow your business.
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In conclusion, the Chinese say: “In every crisis there is danger and opportunity at the same time.” Well, this is definitely the case in an economic slowdown.
So don’t bury the hatchet like everybody else is doing. Do not listen to the fear mongers. Stay true to your plan and have faith. Invest in marketing and grow your business during this time and when the boom time comes back again, you’ll be in a position to reap the benefits of your investments.
If you enjoyed this article then I’m sure you’ll enjoy my free special report, “Three Ways to Double Your Business in 90 Days”. Simply click on the link below to get your copy.
