Introduction
The current worldwide pandemic has left many marketing teams and executives asking if they should pause their marketing efforts and, if not, how they should move forward. To attempt to answer these questions, a look at how organizations responded during past recessions coupled with exploring the competitive and customer landscape is a great starting point. With this background at hand, we will then lay out how best to move forward with your marketing efforts given the COVID-19 environment we must all now navigate.
Using History as our Guide
If the Great Recession of 2008 is any guide, the businesses that maintained their marketing and advertising budgets came out the other side in a stronger position and owned a larger portion of their industry’s mind share.
Finding and Keeping a Customer is Harder than Ever
2009 - Amazon innovated its Kindle product line, invested in growing marketing share, and consequently, grew 28% during the Great Recession.*
Minimizing marketing spend is counterintuitive. On the contrary, businesses should think of cutting other cost centers before setting their sights on the marketing budget. As a business owner myself, during these trying times I’m looking to increase the number of marketing levers I can pull to fill my customer pipeline – especially since my sales levers (i.e. trade shows, outside sales teams, sales representatives) have been shut down due to social distancing.