If a recession is on the horizon, businesses need to take action.
According to a survey by Deloitte, most British businesses believe that a recession is right around the corner. If this is true, neither ignoring it nor despairing will help you.
If you want to ensure that your business makes it through these predicted tough times, you’ll have to reevaluate major aspects of how you run it. Read on for three tips that’ll help you connect with potential customers and make them see the value in investing in your services despite being on a budget.
Become Indispensable to Your Target Audience
When looking back at past recessions, certain rather unusual measures have proven to be reliable omens of bad times to come. For instance, sales of champagne, men’s underwear, short skirts and diapers have typically gone down when times got tough – while lipsticks sold like hot cakes. According to Estée Lauder Chairman Leonard Lauder, this is because women buy them as little indulgences to make themselves feel better despite their circumstances.
So, even though lipstick isn’t a necessity, Estée Lauder still managed to convince their target audience that their product is that little spark of joy they need in dark times – a commodity that people are more than willing to pay for to keep their heads up. Whatever you’re selling, you must do the same: Make sure your target audience knows what makes your services unique and why they’re worth setting money aside for, even on a tighter budget. Also, if your product caters to a need that isn’t as big anymore, be prepared to adjust to meet the new needs of your customers.
Make Your Marketing Count
During tough times, it’s all about making your product stand out to potential customers. Every single penny you invest in marketing should go towards highlighting why people should pick your product over your competitors’ – in the most efficient, cost-effective way possible. When trying to save money, there’s little room for trying out strategies you have no idea whether will be effective or not. Whatever you’re doing has to have been proven to work – and should clearly communicate your unique selling points to your target audience and boost your reach significantly.
Giving your website and social media an SEO overhaul is always a good place to start. If you’re unfamiliar, SEO is short for “search engine optimisation” and is an effective way to help you rank higher on your target audience’s Google searches – by structuring your copy and sentences in a certain way, using the right keywords, etc. Investing in help from marketing experts such as We Digitize will save you the hard work of going through all of your copy yourself and staying up-to-date on what search engines value. For more information, go to https://wedigitize.dk/en/about-us/ – where you can also read about other services, such as e.g. link building, and why they’re so effective.
Make Your Customers Feel Valued
Catching the attention of consumers is just the beginning. Once you’ve managed to turn your target audience into customers, you’ll have to give them an unforgettable experience that’ll keep them coming back. Besides providing a unique service, making your customers feel valued throughout the entire sales process is also a vital part of making yourself indispensable.
In other words, your mission is not only to satisfy your customers’ needs when they have them – but also to make them feel welcome and appreciated. While this is usually done by providing them with quick, attentive and personal customer service, running loyalty programs and competitions, interacting on social media etc. are also great methods.
Of course, you’ll also need to make sure you’re making full use of all of your teams’ skills, networking and forming alliances with other businesses, cutting unnecessary costs – all of the obvious steps to take when the going gets tough. But all in all, highlighting why your target audience needs your services, investing in effective marketing and valuing your customers will go a long way towards strengthening you through a recession.
