While the market competitiveness is constantly growing to globalisation and people having easier access to offers from businesses all around the world, business are at a higher risk every day. Fortunately, an efficient marketing strategy can help you reach the right audience at the right time with the right message.

We are here to help both B2C and B2B businesses, suggesting 4 ways in which customer acquisition and marketing efficiency can be increased in a difficult economic context, to maintain an influx of customers and defend yourself and your business from the negative effects of a new financial or economic crisis.

There is no surprise anymore: websites like Bloomberg, Investopedia or The Guardian announced the imminent start of a new financial crisis between 2020 and 2022 from early 2019. Considering the new pandemic that has heavily impacted the global economy, this is a serious time to revise the measures your business is taking to minimise the impact of potential negative market conditions.

If a financial crisis does happen in the near future, the most significant change on the international and local market will be the decrease in spending both from consumers and businesses. Taking this into consideration, in this context, start-ups are the most exposed to danger - not only because of the loss of their customers (which in theory are not a lot, and any loss can cause damage), but also because of the eventual economic instability and the lack of material resources, which would help a business get over the low or even negative cashflow periods. 

Increase you brand resonance and credibility

By increasing the resonance and credibility, we are not referring only to the number of your Social Media followers (although it is an aspect that shouldn’t be neglected), but also to your credibility in the digital space.

By adding case studies and testimonials from your clients to your website and social media accounts, you will achieve that “social proof”, which brings value and credibility to your business. If you own a B2B business, one easy thing you can do is simply adding logos of your partners to your website - they also play a serious role in this process of gaining credibility and their resonance will help you to increase the efficiency of your online promotion.

Build a community around your business

No matter if your business is B2B or B2C, the “ambassadors” and the community built around your brand are key elements to your success. In a world where almost everything is digital and online promotion can be personalised to every detail, nothing is beats a recommendation from a friend or from a trusted acquaintance when it comes to deciding what products or services to buy.

In an economic context where consumers would be cautious with their spendings, brands who will survive will be the ones who get over this difficult times by keeping close to their audience - the community formed of happy and pleased clients.

Social Media Marketing is the best solution to increase your brand’s community on a budget, because you can share your message and interact with people targeted, at a higher scale, using Facebook, Instagram or LinkedIn Marketing - depending on the characteristics of your target audience. These three platforms are the most popular and most used for Social Media Marketing - give them a try!

Build a marketing system aimed at generating new clients

Increasing the prospect database should be one of the top priorities for any start-up. Although the efforts of your sales team to increase the database through networking or Cold Calling can have immediate effects, a financial crisis will only get things more complicated - if there are smaller transaction budgets on the market, it will get harder for your team to convince new potential clients that you are their best available option.

In a B2B Marketing context, “Thought Leadership Content” is an excellent solution, because it brings value to your ideal consumers, in exchange for their contact data.

Making use of advanced targeting tools in your Social Media campaigns can only help when promoting a product or a service to an audience that already interacted with your brand - Remarketing campaigns are such an example. PPC / Google Marketing will help you to position your brand within the top Google search results for relevant keywords and phrases, so when these potential leads are ready to buy your products/service, they will find you there (and not your competition).

In another scenario, once the data is captured with these Inbound Marketing strategies, the sales team can initiate conversations to identify where can your company bring value to the potential customers.

Awareness and Engagement campaigns can also be integrated within an optimised Inbound Marketing System, so that your online promotion budget will deliver new business opportunities and increases your brand’s popularity in your niche.

Integrate Marketing Automation, AI and Machine Learning in your Sales and Marketing Systems

AI and Machine Learning should be your top options for accelerating the Marketing and Sales activities, but also for automation and optimisation, as well as for increasing the efficiency of your internal processes. 

Even if it sounds complicated, there are multiple Software-as-a-Service solutions, which use Cloud Data and algorithms that analyse internal company data in order to suggest effective actions or workflows to bring potential clients to the buying phase.

When applying this technology to your internal processes, it is important to have a well-developed Customer Relationship Management System (CRM), containing correct data based on which these Marketing and Sales Automation Technologies can be programmed.

These are the four opportunities that can lead to building an intelligent Marketing System, but also increasing your brand’s customer loyalty. Of course, these can always be explored in more depth and assure your brand a stronger position in a difficult economic situation. Why these should be your starting point?

The key to ensuring your business thrives in a difficult economy is keeping a good flow of new incoming clients, while spending budgets more effectively - all while maintaining a Leader positioning. The above will help you do just that.

We wish you the best of luck, and if you ever want to learn more about the best Inbound Marketing Solutions, Growth Hacking or Automation for your business, don’t hesitate to contact us at hello@marketiu.com.