With the COVID-19 pandemic still ongoing, the ongoing war in Ukraine putting further pressure on rising interest rates, and the potential disruption of supply chains due to blockages in China, the economic outlook is fraught with uncertainty.
Economists warn that the United States could be headed for a recession next year or early in 2024 as inflation reverberates throughout the global economy. With the recession looming, businesses and industry leaders are in murky waters.
Is digital marketing a good strategy during an economic downturn?
“Digital marketing is not something you should turn off during a recession, Individuals will continue to search for products and services online, even though overall demand is down. That is probably the most valuable marketing investment you can make during an economic downturn. It allows you to reach the people actively looking for what you have to offer or who most closely match your target audience.”
Recession-proof marketing strategies for businesses are more important now than ever. Digital marketing campaign experts agree that, in the long run, durable internet marketing techniques are the very best investment you can make to protect your business during an economic slump. Strengthen your electronic advertising techniques and secure your company from a recession with help from Thrive.
Related: Ten Reasons You Need A Digital Marketing Strategy In 2022
The risk of a recession in 2023 and beyond
Talk of a recession has intensified in recent months, worrying businesses and organizations across the United States. Economists fear that the Federal Reserve’s plans to raise interest rates to fight inflation quickly could lead to a severe economic downturn.
In April 2022, Deutsche Bank became the first central bank to predict a recession in the U.S., and investors share that view. According to a Bloomberg Markets Live poll, about 48 percent of investors expect an economic downturn in 2023, while another 21 percent expect it in 2024 and 15 percent predict a recession in 2022.
Data released by Statista Research supports those projections, forecasting a 6.14 percent chance of another economic downturn by February 2023. And former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, who served under President Bill Clinton, sees an 80 percent possibility of a recession in the U.S. by 2023.
Could we be facing a recession in 2023?
Although an economic downturn is likely impending, specialists believe an economic downturn in 2023 is unlikely. The White House and the IMF expect U.S. economic growth to accelerate next year, reaching an estimated 3.7% by 2022.
However, Susan Wachter, a real estate and finance professor at the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, said, “… the longer inflation persists, the more likely we are to enter a wage-price spiral that forces the Fed to hit the brakes hard.”
With a lot riding on the timing of a financial decline, it’s finest to discover just how to prepare your solution for one.
“Digital marketing is an investment that helps in good times and bad,”. During a recession is not the time to ‘fix’ your website. Increase your marketing budget before a recession so your business is prepared. If anything, invest. Now is the time to ensure your website works for your business so it will work in tough times.”
Develop recession-proof marketing tactics now to protect your business from economic upheaval
Exactly how to prepare your organization for a recession
If one point collections recession-proof companies aside from the competitors, it’s their commitment to buying service preparation for an economic downturn as early as possible. Before and throughout a downturn, marketing experts need to straighten their digital advertising and marketing projects to restrict the impact of the prospective turmoil on their business.
Developing the right digital marketing strategies is the best way to ensure your business is prepared for what’s to come. It is critical to utilize the right digital marketing ideas, strategies, and technologies to ensure the longevity of your business during the subsequent impending economic collapse.
Have you started business planning for a recession?
The digital marketing tips to prepare your business for a recession and protect your brand as best you can:
1. Invest in a better online presence
One of the pillars of recession-proof businesses is their ability to build and maintain a solid digital presence, regardless of the state of the economy. Maintaining a strong digital presence will allow you to capture a larger market share of e-commerce sales, both now and in the event of a recession.
Buy marketing research, create a responsive internet site and depend on search engine optimization (SEO) and pay-per-click (PPC) advertising to remain top of mind with your target market.
“Putting a major focus on SEO and PPC is probably the safest bet,”, If you do these successfully, it’s almost guaranteed that your brand will be present with people looking to make a purchase.
Constructing an on-the-internet existence has become a leading concern for services in recent years. And with the recession looming, having a better digital presence is even more important to stay on the radar of potential customers. That way, whether potential customers are specifically looking for your brand or need the services or products you offer, they’ll find you and eventually become your customers when they’re ready to convert.
Related: Elements Of Successful Advertising And Marketing Campaigns
2. Don’t cut your marketing budget
During an economic slump, brands face the dilemma of whether to cut their marketing budget, pause marketing campaigns, or double down their digital marketing strategies.
For some, it’s pretty logical to pause marketing during a recession. After all, spending much money on digital marketing services can seem counterintuitive when revenues are down. Take 2020, for example; spending on digital marketing campaigns dropped simultaneously, cutting 255 million full-time positions worldwide. Also, Google had to reduce its marketing budget by 50 percent as advertisement profits declined during the COVID-19 pandemic.
➢ why continue to grow your digital marketing plan and invest in digital marketing services?
Studies have shown time and time again that brands that continue their marketing during a recession are most likely to survive. As the noise level decreases during an economic downturn, many companies reduce advertising spending.
That is an opportunity to demonstrate your business stability during tough times. Continue your digital marketing campaigns, or at least scale them back a bit, but never to the point of stopping them altogether.
“To keep the business going, make sure your digital marketing strategy is working,”. Business is not going to come to a complete halt. If you stop digital marketing, expect your competitors to be able to get to your potential customers more easily. Those who consistently invest in digital marketing services will reap the greatest benefits.”
The social media strategist agrees, pointing out that there will be less competition in the digital marketing space as businesses begin to feel the pinch of the recession. That is your best chance to attract new customers to your business and ensure you don’t suffer during the economic downturn.
3. Optimize your website now
Examine your website. Is it generating leads for your business 24 hours a day, or does it need improvement? Seek advice from a reputable web design company if you’re unsure which part of your website could be more optimal.
Website design and advancement agencies have internal conversion price optimization (CRO) professionals who perform detailed website audits and analyses to determine your site’s communications and the elements you need to optimize to obtain the desired results.
“Look at the data on your website to improve the customer experience. For example, examine which pages are visited the most, which are visited the least, whether shopping carts are abandoned, and how customers behave overall. ” Conversion price optimization aids make the most of your web traffic.”
Gather this information to create a data-based plan. That way, you’ll know that any improvements you make to your website are more likely to impact your bottom line. That, in turn, leads to a return on investment.
Optimizing your conversion rate can lower your acquisition costs by getting the most out of your website. For instance, if you want to sell more products online, now is the best time to optimize the product pages on your website. This way, you’ll increase revenue per visitor.
Get an expert to review your site. He can give you digital marketing tips on reducing the number of visitors who leave the site or don’t take the actions you want.
Related: Why Your Business Needs A Website
4. Develop a results-oriented marketing strategy
Don’t lose leads that could have become customers if you had invested in a more targeted digital marketing strategy.
“Regardless of economic conditions, people continue to do a lot of shopping and searching online,”. You must invest early [in a holistic digital marketing strategy] to be ready to capitalize when the economy inevitably picks up.”
A comprehensive approach to digital marketing will boost your company’s performance. It also allows you to generate more visitors now so that you already have a steady stream of visitors when the recession hits. That reduces the negative impact of an economic downturn on your business.
Consider setting up an eCommerce store to offer your services or products. Add email capture to your website. Use marketing automation to optimize your SMS and email marketing campaigns. If you execute a digital marketing plan well, nothing can stop it – not even a recession.
5. Increase your SEO and link-building efforts
Invest in SEO and link building to build a solid organic SEO foundation that you can rely on for years to come and that will continually bring you, new customers. As we approach a recession and customer behavior changes, ranking at or near the top for valuable keywords will be a precious safety net.
“SEO is a fundamental part of any type of organization.” “Ranking for your essential keywords is constantly crucial. You can future-proof your organization by considering exactly how individuals would require you in different financial circumstances and developing content/pages for those situations.
For example, suppose it looks like avocados will be in short supply, and you’re a recipe site. In that case, you can create recipes for everyday avocado dishes with alternatives to avocado, so you have time to gain traction and traffic for those things before people start searching for them.”
Worrying about making the wrong choice is a substantial motivator for customers investing in decisions. When you develop top-quality web content and enhance your SEO efforts, you raise your perceived knowledge and your opportunities for your web site appearing on top of search engine results.
Plus, incorporating SEO and link-building into your digital marketing plan can maximize sales and leads in your niche market.
From a long-term lead generation perspective, SEO is the best investment you can make in your digital marketing, aside from ensuring your website is built to convert leads or sales effectively,”.
“To use a basic example: Paid advertising is like buying at the grocery store. You pay costs to get what you need, yet it’s convenient and fast. Nevertheless, if you transform it off, you shed nearly all of its worth. On the other hand, SEO resembles planting a yard. It takes time and initiative, but in the long run, it supplies leads at a much-reduced cost and develops equity in your domain name that you will not shed if you quit investing.”
6. Rely on consistent branding
In times of uncertainty, clients rely on their trusted brands. That’s why it’s essential to communicate a consistent message of strength and stability to your customers. Other companies will if you don’t communicate the value of your brand offering.
Don’t ignore that people are shying away from the threat of recession. Tailor your brand name voice to your target audience and attract consumers’ emotions to show recognition and sensitivity.
Extra significantly, follow your branding. Brainstorm electronic advertising concepts with your group and develop a monthly digital marketing strategy to remain pertinent without exhausting your budget plan.
Online reputation management (ORM) is another essential aspect of business planning for a recession that should not be overlooked. Use customer reviews to project a trustworthy brand image.
Create free profiles and submit them to various review portals to monitor coverage. Finally, respond to positive and negative online reviews to maintain an excellent brand image even during a recession.
7. Continue your social media efforts
During an economic downturn, many people tend to stay home to spend less and save more. That also means potential customers spend more time on their mobile devices. That is a perfect opportunity to attract new customers to your business and drive leads through your sales funnel via social media marketing.
“Continuing social media marketing during an economic downturn ensures that your audience knows you still have an online presence.” “Whether you reduce the number of weekly posts or your advertising budget, a little can still go a long way to keep the lights on and attract new/existing customers.
Other valuable digital marketing tips include: ensuring your brand is front and center when customers search for your product and services. Establish your social network accounts and strengthen your brand if you haven’t already.
- Closely monitoring consumer trends.
- Aligning sales and marketing.
- Running strategic paid advertising campaigns on social media to increase the number of targeted deals.
Related: Social Media Marketing In 2022: How To Choose The Right Platform And Advertising For Your Brand
8. Offer innovative video content
Specific online marketing tactics pay off exponentially because of their cost-effective, creative approach to engaging audiences. One notable instance is video advertising and marketing.
Video advertising remains one of the most exciting means to get in touch with your target audience and present palatable info. It builds trust and interaction in a manner that material alone can not.
“Consider video web content that is evergreen and can be utilized at any time in the years to come.” “This will ensure your money goes further than spending more on campaign-specific content.
Post videos on your social media pages. Ask your customers to create video testimonials that you can post on your website. Run live streams on Facebook, Instagram or YouTube so your followers can interact with your brand and ask questions in real time.
In turbulent times, Americans are likely to spend more time online keeping up with friends and current events. Video marketing is an excellent method to connect with your audience where they spend the most time and grow your customer base.
Take Dollar Shave Club’s introductory video, for example. The video went viral in 2012 during the recession and has garnered more than 27 million views since its release. Another surprising result: within just 48 hours of its release, about 12,000 people signed up for the subscription service. Dollar Shave Club eventually generated hundreds of millions of dollars in revenue. Yet the video only cost about $4,500 to produce.
When done right, video marketing can be among the most profitable digital marketing ideas to protect your revenue during a downturn.
9. Build a solid digital analytics setup
“A solid digital analytics system helps business owners study and predict changes in their business. That allows you to make data-driven decisions as you adjust your digital marketing strategies.
Using key performance indicators (KPIs) and marketing analytics, you can determine which online marketing tactics deliver the best results and which are not performing well. A solid digital analytics system will determine if your website interactions generate business for your brand.
Google Analytics, for example, is a great way to compare different pages on your site to see how they support your conversion goals. It tracks your page views, average time spent on the page, and bounce rate, among other things, to optimize underperforming pages.
Other SEO tools include Google Search Console (GSC), Google Trends, SEMrush, and Moz Pro.
10. Make careful budgeting decisions
Even if shoppers cut back on spending during an economic downturn, consumers will continue to make the most necessary purchases. To ensure that your products are among these select purchases, you must maintain a presence with buyers. You must carefully decide how to spend your marketing dollars to accomplish this.
“Plan your advertising budget wisely,” “Consider seasonality and busy times of the year to take advantage of when your customers are likely to be shopping or inquiring about your services.”
Paid search advertising and marketing is just one of the most reliable advertising and marketing tools to optimize your advertising and marketing budget plan. Whether via retail channels like Amazon.com and Walmart or internet search engines like Google and Bing, paid search placements your brand in front of buyers proactively looking for your brand offerings.
“Because ads are only paid for when clicked, unnecessary spending is avoided. Brands can focus their advertising budget on the most relevant terms to their products and generate the highest sales.
Paid shopping ads appeal to shoppers ready to add something to their shopping cart. You must ensure your products are priced competitively to get the most out of your ad campaign. And if the profit margin allows, you should include discounts, coupons, and other sales incentives to increase the conversion rate.
Don’t waste time thinking about whether marketing is the best way to go during a recession. Develop your online marketing tactics today to cushion a downward economic spiral.
Optimize your marketing budget and prioritize wisely
“Digital advertising is not an on/off switch.” “It’s something that flows. There will always be a flow in high water, low water, rapids, and deep water. The question is whether you let nature and outside forces dictate that flow or whether you take action yourself to regulate the flow.
Even if the economy isn’t succeeding, you are accountable to your team, firm, consumers, and area to identify how to source, sell and optimize your organization.”
That’s why you need to start optimizing your digital presence and investing in innovative digital marketing strategies that will yield positive long-term results for your business.
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