The UK recession is gradually getting worse as reported by the BBC and backed up the OFNS (office for national statistics).
So what are we to do, what is your business going to do to survive?
Are you going to bury your head in the sand, cut back on outgoing, shed some staff, or market more?
Don’t panic Mr Manwering is the first thing that comes to mind, however all businesses do need to adapt.
Different industry sectors will be effected more than others.
The world has moved on in recent years, more so now more than previously.
COVID has moved a lot of retail online, as we have become acclimatised to ordering online while the shops were closed during lockdown.
Food delivery has also grown as a result of the lockdown periods. How often do you see Deliveroo riders during the day?
For some companies, the changing climate is good, for others it is a case of adapting our marketing message.
Recession certainly brings changes to the business world, but we have seen it before. Here are a few examples of the changing climate leading to companies either adapting or closing:
Over the years as technology has moved on, we as a society have had to adapt or are forced to adapt in our habits.
As recession kicks in, our buying habits will change and the way we market our businesses needs to adapt.
To sit still and do nothing is not the best advice with marketing during a recession.
Continuing as we have always done is also not good advice, the climate has changed and so must we.
As a marketing price comparison website, we would advise to use marketing to beat the recession.
This does not necessarily mean spending more money, just being smarter about what kind of marketing you are doing.
Assume that most other businesses in the UK will be worrying about their sales pipelines, so chances are their buying habits will change or even reduce.
This is not an easy decision, as most businesses are wanting to rain costs in, not splash them out.
However it has long been said ‘you need to speculate to accumulate’. Then again, this is a tune marketing companies would tell UK companies during times of UK recession.
Their income will be effected if companies stop spending on marketing.
Marketing companies will always advise to spend more, as they want to keep their income coming through or increase. This is not advice from the right source, of course they are going to say this.
For companies that are spending on TV advertising, why not consider cutting down on the number of adverts and use PPC advertising to ensure that your website is visible?
For companies that sell services and products, telemarketing is a good option to consider.
During the recession, there will be casualties, companies will close and jobs will be lost, however do you want to give in and quit, or do you want to survive and grow?
We saw the growth of Tik Tok during the lockdown period in 2020 as people that were unemployed or on furlough took to the platform to occupy their time.
The list goes on, just go onto Tik Tok and you will understand the points above, and the reality is now that a lot of these people now have a new career path. They are social media influencers, supported by marketing companies that specialise in bringing brands and influencers together.
Using social media platforms is free of charge, if you have some time why not get a few of your staff to do a dance.
The first Tik Tok to stand out was NHS nurses doing a dance to the trend song at the time. These days social media trends are common as everyone jumps on the band wagon.
Creating videos on Tik Tok is free of charge, there are lots of options for videos you can do as you can see from the bullet points above.
Have you considered looking at low cost forms of marketing and advertising. An example would be looking at TV advertising.
Choosing a marketing company needs to be done with care, as you do not get what you pay for with marketing.
Lots of small companies use TV advertising and companies like Tails.com and Simply Fresh have seen their businesses really take off thanks to advertising on television.
Rather than keeping your marketing campaigns running, rain them in and put some of the money into social media advertising. More people than ever use social media now, so you should still get brand exposure.
These are testing times, testing the British resolve, testing our own resolve. Only the strong will survive and it starts in the mind. If you are certain you can do it, you probably will. Marketing during the recession in the UK is important. Keep it going.
Good luck everyone!