5 Ways to Market Your Business During a Recession and Why You Should

Even during a long-lasting recession, marketing is important. As the economy recovers and people begin to spend again, businesses with a marketing presence are better positioned than competitors to attract growing volumes of customers.

Marketing isn’t just about selling stuff to people. It’s also about making sure your business is visible and/or discoverable in the right places at the right time and getting the word out there so that when customers do need what you sell, they know where to find you.

So how can you make sure your business gets noticed and how can you get more customers through the door during tough economic times like a recession?

Here are 5 ways to market your business during a recession:

1. Use Social Media

Social media has become an integral part of our lives. We use Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+, LinkedIn, Tumblr, YouTube, Snapchat, and many other sites on a daily basis.

And we all have different reasons for using these sites. Some like to keep up with friends, others want to share their latest news or photos with family members. But whatever the reason, social media is here to stay.

If you don’t already have a presence on one or more of these sites, now is the perfect time to set one up. You can create a profile for free, and then spend money on advertising if you want to attract new customers.

2. Start Blogging

Blogging is another great way to promote your business online and helps with your organic rankings in Google as Google loves content. A blog also gives you a place to write about highly searched informational topics related to your business that drive site traffic. This could be anything from tips on a certain service your company offers to advise on how to deal with difficult clients.

You can also include links to products and services that you offer. The key thing to remember is that you should only post content that will benefit your readers. If you try to push sales too hard, you may end up annoying them instead.

3. Get Creative

Sometimes, the best way to get attention is by being unique. There are plenty of businesses out there that are doing things differently than everyone else. They might not be offering exactly what you’re looking for, but they’re still interesting enough to draw attention.

For example, I recently came across a company called “The Frugal Traveler”. Their website offers travel tips and tricks for those who are trying to save money while traveling. The Frugal Traveler is basically a travel agency that will cater to your traveling needs as inexpensively as possible. They specialize in exceptional customer service while finding and giving the best deals they can. 

4. Offer Discounts

During a recession, people tend to cut back on spending. As a result, they often look for deals or search more thoroughly for the best value. If you’re offering discounts, promotions, or other enticements to prospective clients during a recession or tough economic times, your business stands to gain a lot of extra exposure.

Offering special discounts to loyal customers is a good way to encourage them to come back. For example, if you’ve ever bought coffee, you’ve likely received a drink punch-card. Once you buy 10 drinks, you get one free. You’re rewarding loyalty while simultaneously building it with your customers - a fantastic concept.

5. Make it Easy for Customers to Find You Through Google Ads

When times are tough, people are less inclined to go out of their way to do business with someone. That means if you want to increase your customer base, you need to make it easier for them to find you. Whenever you reduce friction in the customer journey, you achieve more sales and/or attract more leads. Why do you think forms with fewer fields convert better than longer forms? Reduced friction in the process.

One way to keep your business top-of-mind and reduce friction in finding your services or products is to advertise on Google Ads. It's a surefire way to get your company seen at the top of Google’s first search engine results page (SERP). Considering more than 90% of Google users stick to the first page of SERPs, it’s extremely valuable marketing real estate that you want to occupy.

When a downturn in the economy happens, a business owner's first reaction may be a knee-jerk decision to cut the marketing budget. We can’t recommend against this enough.

If you’re already experiencing a pullback in sales, intentionally reducing your brand presence and culling efforts to attract new customers is the last thing you want to do. Less customers and less sales are not the answer to business success during a recession. Instead, you need to review the efficacy of your marketing, and consider switching to a proven digital marketing agency if you’re not achieving the performance you desire. Marketing budget should be the last thing to go as competitors are apt to reduce their marketing budgets during a downward trending economy, meaning leads and sales can be achieved at lower rates. If you’ve ever been to an auction, you know the more people bidding the higher the cost is likely to go.

You need to continue marketing even during a recession because you still need to be generating leads or sales for your business. It’s your business’s lifeblood.

In fact, when times get tough it’s important that you step up your marketing efforts so you can generate the one thing that keeps your business going, more leads/customers - and likely at a reduced cost.

Here at SEO Idaho we specialize and excel in many forms of marketing that are guaranteed to bring customers through your door. Contact us today to see how we can help and which approach is going to be best for your business.