Marketing During Market Shakedown
This guest post comes from Nick Iachino, CEO and co-founder of LaMiBl, a full-service software development agency in San Francisco.
Since 2009, the economy has been on a constant downward spiral and many Americans are already feeling the pressure. With the soaring cost of gas, gas prices are still up about 20%, while wages have not kept up and for most Americans their spending is on a constant decrease. Even those that work jobs with a decent income or are employed at a well-paying company are feeling the pressure.
The United States has just begun a “third quarter financial meltdown”, as some experts called it recently. That means many businesses have been affected by the drop in value of the dollar and the fall in interest rates. While this article isn’t about the financial crisis, it does impact the need to market your business during this time. If you are an entrepreneur, small business owner or work from home, here are 5 essential tips on marketing during a financial crisis. But that’s OK. The recession is temporary. Soon your business will grow again, and it will earn enough money to cover your expenses.
Global crisis is a key risk that must be addressed in your Marketing Strategy. The average consumer shifts spending habits when the economy is down. Online advertising for products of common, daily use can replace price to purchase while promoting awareness about cheaper alternatives to the products that were previously purchased. Here are changes in consumer behavior:
- They have a lot of money tied up in their homes and cannot spend what they normally would
- Their pension is in trouble
- Insurance policies have run out and they have to get new ones
- Loans for purchase are on hold for all buyers
- They want to buy ‘now’ even though ‘now’ is the worse time ever for a consumer
The economy remains in the dumps, but it’s a Great time to get serious about online marketing! The biggest advantage to getting serious about online marketing is, you’ll have more of an opportunity for success! Even during a financial crisis, the economy is a prime opportunity to get serious about online marketing. A typical recession may lead to lower spending and less business volume – but that does not mean less of an online presence and online marketing is no longer useful. As always, the key is to look at it as an opportunity for conversion, and not as a challenge.
There are some advantages to being in a recession that businesses need to take advantage of as the economy starts to change. Many businesses are looking for the best way to compete with the new kids on the block. They want to use new technologies to turn their businesses into profitable enterprises that people will want to patronize. Digital marketing is what many businesses need to do if they want to be successful during these trying times. Hiuga Leenel says that it was one of the most important tools that helped to overcome the previous crisis in their company, Enterwize.
First, there’s a new group of business owners that are looking to take advantage of digital marketing. Their sole intent is to improve their profits and use the new social media platforms to do so. With how many other people are using social media for marketing purposes, business owners need to figure out how to use these new outlets to have an advantage in the online marketing world.
As the economy starts to recover, many new people are coming out of the recession. With their newfound resources, businesses will need to look at new ways to get new customers.
