Marketing During a Recession
There is little doubt that a recession (at some level) is coming in 2023. We recognize this fact in how to approach our clients’ success in the coming year. Buying habits will pivot, customer needs will change, and attention will shift—but your customers will continue to purchase. A recession does not mean the economic machine stops, nor will our clients’ marketing campaigns.
Here are some things to think about when it comes to marketing during a recession.
1. Doubling Down or Cashing Out
Some brands drop their marketing via a knee-jerk reaction to hard economic times. Cutting all marketing out of fear now will likely have an even more negative effect once the hard times have passed. Having some exposure online is critical—and this means something other than blowing out your marketing budget.
It’s time to 80/20 the situation—pinpoint your most profitable channels from 2022 and keep these running. Replace your underperforming channels with new ones that will supplement or use untapped channels you can test. Remember, less ad competition can mean more exposure at a lower cost to you.
2. Brand Marketing Is Paramount
Customers remember brands that stuck with them through the hard times. Ask yourself, “How can we provide more value to our customers?” No, we are not talking about a price drop. Customers appreciate a lower price, but they remember value.
Airbnb took this strategy to the bank by focusing on a brand-building pivot over performance marketing during the pandemic. In Marketing Week, CEO Brian Chesky said, “Airbnb now looks at the role of marketing as one of ‘education,’ not ‘to buy customers.’” In short, this focus on brand is paying off.
3. Focus on Loyalty and LTV
Having a solid customer loyalty and lifetime value (LTV) strategy in place is nonnegotiable. If you don’t have one, start one. If you do, make it better. It’s true that customers are more likely to look for alternative products to meet their needs during a recession—it’s normal.
But not only will your past customers already have you top of mind—bringing them back is easier, faster, and far cheaper. Whether you retarget past customers on Facebook or go direct with emails, start focusing on returning customers ASAP.
The Black Box Marketing Impact
Marketers (and brands) are struggling to adapt as data, performance metrics, and algorithms become more opaque, clouded, or difficult to understand. But driving into 2023 while staring into the rearview mirror will not end well for our clients or our company. The way National Positions sees it, the only way forward is adaptation.
New sources of data, new strategies, and new technologies—we are focusing on what we CAN control.
1. Automation Is Inevitable
One key factor feeding this black box is the push for automation. Both marketers and brands drove this thirst for automated processes across channels—we all want to make better (and more profitable) use of our time.
As automated solutions have been adopted, the functionality of automation has been a distant afterthought. As more automation is embraced to feed the end result, the inner workings of automation will become harder to understand. So we all need to find the middle ground that works for our marketing and businesses.
2. Transparency Is the Challenge
As processes shift into overdrive and we are able to scale faster than ever, we begin to uncover new questions and want new answers. Advances in marketing technologies will, by their nature, lead us to want (or need) to answer deeper questions surrounding performance data—but it can be more complex.
When Google switches up its analytics platform or Apple updates its iOS, eliminating our ability to understand 84% of the iPhone userbase, it can disrupt everything. This need for transparency will always be addressed—but currently, transparency is getting, well, less transparent.
3. Risk and Reward
The evolving black box surrounding marketing data, metrics, and capabilities holds levels of both risk and reward. Adopting and leveraging the latest the industry offers can lead to reaping the rewards over your lagging competition. However, the inverse may also be true—adopting early and suffering data obfuscations down the road.
Vetting any advances is necessary. There is a balance between maximizing efficiency and relinquishing control. Time-saving technology is always met with open arms—but never at the expense of customer privacy or jeopardizing data. Assume risks you can afford, but never gamble frivolously.
Your Marketing Data = Your Marketing Success
For years, National Positions has been innovating more future-proof strategies surrounding marketing data—ethically. The great news is that this tightening of personal privacy will push subpar practitioners out of the game and let your campaigns shine even brighter.
The more first-party data you can collect and apply to your marketing strategies, the more rewards you will receive in 2023!
1. Data Privacy Push Continues
Consumer data needs to be protected—we 100% believe this. We believe in being ethical—scraping and distributing consumer data has not (and never will be) part of our marketing discussions. That said, there is another side of this coin that impacts anyone marketing online.
Consumer data tells an interesting story: 56% of consumers expect promotions to be personalized, 73% expect brands to anticipate their unique needs, and nearly 90% say the brand experience matters. So how can these needs be met without adequate data? These are the questions we are trying to answer.
2. Third-Party Data Is Going Extinct
When you advertise on Google, YouTube, or Facebook, you have been using third-party data. These vast banks of purchase, demographic, and geographic user data have been key in launching and scaling campaigns since online advertising began. But this third-party data is evaporating.
This year Google is phasing out cookies (user tracking) by the end of 2024, and Facebook lost a massive amount of data and tracking capabilities with Apple’s iOS Update. National Positions has focused on advancing the use of first-party data for years—an approach we cannot stress enough for you to adopt. We can’t cry about the past—we can only look to the future.
3. Success Depends on Data Insights
Your success hinges on the valuable data insights required to optimize your campaigns, keep budgets in check, and scale efficiently. This means that finding new sources of data now is paramount. The good news is you likely have more access to this data than you think.
Conversions and sales data are accessible from your ecommerce website platform, like Shopify. Offline conversion data that can be used to enrich your Google ad campaigns is available in your CRM. Take stock of all the direct data sources you have now—they will become your key to success in 2023 and beyond.
Start 2023 the Right Way
It’s time to get your marketing goals and strategies for 2023 ready to roll.
With so much to consider, getting National Positions to take a look at your current campaigns and assess their performance can at least point you in the right direction.
What worked last year may not work this year, so let us be your second set of eyes by visiting our contact us page and dropping us a line. Have an amazing and profitable new year, and subscribe to our blog for the latest marketing updates you need to know.
