COVID-19 required that we align our marketing with the new circumstances. As a result, digital marketing was boosted, door-to-door services were quickly launched, digital applications rapidly developed, and agility was at full speed to create a new marketing eco-system. We've proved ourselves as resilient as ever before. We made it.
Making it through COVID-19 was a cause of celebration and brought a great wave of "compensation" where consumers as well as B2B organizations, wanted to make up for the "lost" two years in which we were all cooped up financially, spatially, and spiritually. Two years post-, COVID (yes, it's been two years already), the global health crisis has been replaced by a forecasted recession, high inflation, and economic uncertainty. Some predict the market will recuperate in early 2024, while others say much longer. One thing is for sure, we have entered an era of economic uncertainty that is probably here to stay. This requires new marketing strategies to increase sales.
As a result, marketing budgets are under great scrutiny or drastically cut down. According to the World Federation of Advertisers, a survey of 43 global companies, about 30% of major advertisers are cutting down on their ad spending[1]. The CMO Survey sponsored by Duke University, Deloitte LLP, and the American Marketing Association showed that inflation has led 42% of US companies to cut their marketing budgets[2]. With such economic uncertainty, how can we make the best of our marketing budget and efforts? Boost your marketing strategies to increase sales on a lean budget with these 7 tactics:
Free PR Distribution Services
When it comes to PR, large corporations often work with a PR agency, SMBs may work with a freelancer on a per press release basis and everyone is leveraging social media. A PR agency's monthly retainer can start at US $2,000 and can run up to $20,00 per month.
True, PR agencies have their added value, however, with the budget tight, we may also want to consider the following PR tools. Perhaps alongside your PR agency to simply cut down costs:
· PRLog – distributes to a wide range of media outlets. Offers two free press releases per day.
· 1888PressRelease.com – affordable prices per a press release. The free plan is limited; other plans are very affordable.
· PR.Com - free and very affordable multiple plan packages, a wide range of media outlets.
· Marketpressrelease.com - enables 1 free PR per day with additional very affordable and flexible media plans.
Reassess Your Marketing Activities
Take a look at your previous marketing activities. What are the 5 marketing activities that generated the highest ROI? That is where you focus your budget on. Even double the budget here, but only on what you already know works for your business. This may sound obvious, however, it's very common for new marketing trends to sidetrack us from what works for us. This is a reminder to stick with what works. Economic uncertainty calls for a solid plan, and this is where you'll find it.
Replace Tradeshows with Targeted & Intimate Events
An average of 31.6% of most marketing budgets are allocated to Tradeshows. This is a whopping one-third of the budget. Tradeshow ROIs have always been debatable, and with the current economic uncertainty can certainly be replaced with lean-budget local, targeted events that are either physical or online events. Lean-budget physical events may include:
· Power Breakfast for 20 decision-makers from the area.
· Unplugged events targeting specific market segments – here you can invite your clients to speak for you, which will provide them with their own opportunity to shine.
· Happy hours for inviting C-levels – each invited guest will also have a 10-15-minute speaking
engagement so it's a win-win event.
Lean-budget digital events may include:
· Webinars
· Podcasts
· Zooms
· Online panels and discussions
· Online questions and answers for customers/ CXOs/ specific market segments
Leverage Your Partnerships
A small reminder: partnerships are not just for signing deals and generating sales. They can also serve as leverage for collaboration where forces and expertise are united to provide great value for customers at a lower marketing cost. So, who are your partners? How can you collaborate with them marketing-wise?
Referral Programs
This is the time to breathe new life into old referral programs or create one if you don't have one. A referral program combined with a gamification approach will go a long way provided you keep them updated. Update and maintenance here are of relatively low cost as it requires mostly content, updates, and calls for action on a regular basis. A referral program keeps your brand in the minds of your customers and they, in return, get incentivized.
Content
Mentioning content may be obvious, and yet it is still among the most effective and cost-effective forms of marketing. Make sure you emphasize quality content over quantity. Make sure your content is engaging, provides added value, opens a new line of thought, inspires, is visual, etc. Remember that content should address not just your targeted audience, but also takes into consideration their buyer's journey.
For more marketing tips and insights contact us at: https://www.marketing-break.com/
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