Don’t use recession as an excuse!

The current recessionary economic conditions have been identified as the major cause for the strife that we are witnessing in most organizations and the performance of their brands. It is worth pondering on the thought that in the last few months, ‘recession’ has also become a legitimate excuse to defend sub-optimal performance. In most cases – for brands that do not have significantly large market share it seems to be used as an excuse. I believe that especially for brands which are not the market leaders there is always a scope to grow at the originally planned pace in the toughest of economic conditions. Below are 5 recommendations that I would make to the clients/brands – which could help them to track on their growth targets.

1.       Avoid Being Paralyzed

The information overload is perhaps deepening the perception of the slowdown. It is highly important to be informed about how this drama of slowdown is unfolding – and what measures are being proposed by the various governments, federal banks and corporations to alleviate the pain. However in the process of being connected – one at times  gets depressed by unpleasant news of layoffs , dipping sales , production lines being shut down  and more. This growing perception of doom aided by sensational media – and multitude of expert opinions – can lead to professional paralysis. The dramatic change in the market environment – has shaken the belief in the well drafted marketing strategy (based on only optimism) that one had – till a few months back and made it completely irrelevant. Most marketers are now left with no real strategy…they are living from quarter to quarter if not month to month. In such a situation one needs to avoid being paralyzed – take only that dose of news and information that is necessary – focus on the CORE around which you have build the franchise of the brand or service and get back into action. Plan - implement, plan more and implement more….it is imperative that you are present and active in the market. In-action on your ‘go to market’ plans would just hasten the decline and eventual death of your brand.

 

 

2.       Take pains to understand ‘alternative’ marketing mediums

The last 5 years have seen the emergence of the ‘alternative’ marketing mediums like digital, mobile, BTL and more. Each of these mediums has their unique strengths and limitations. Their biggest strength however is that they allow you to target your marketing effort with great precision, measure the impact and reduce wastage tremendously. Mediums with these characteristics are useful – when resources are scarce. The proper leveraging of these mediums requires the traditional marketer to do a lot of ‘unlearning’ and enroll himself in the school of New Age media. This task is not easy – however if not done – the brands would be lead by brand managers – with partial or little knowledge of these mediums. The result is more wastage and an incorrect judgment on the efficacy of these mediums. Brands and marketers who have invested effort in understanding the alternative mediums – and have had the courage to persist with them – are most likely to succeed in doing more for their brands with lesser resources.

 

         3.        Win in the Last Mile

  70% of the buying decisions are made in the last mile. The brand needs to be at its best, in the phase when the shopper is turning into a buyer. A multitude of factors impact this phase and it is imperative that adequate effort is made to understand how your brand is performing in the last mile and further more – take corrective action to increase the conversions. Getting more prospects in your fold (pipeline) to maintain demand – or increase it has always been an expensive proposition. The economics of which– may not get a nod from the CFO in the current scenario of financial uncertainty. The solution to this challenge is to win in the last mile. An in-depth assessment of how your brand scores on placement , packaging, pricing ,promotion , display etc in the last mile – will reveal areas that need improvement. Compensate for the cuts in your marketing budget – and still maintain the same revenue or grow them – by investing your limited resources in increase conversions in the last mile.

 

 

4.       Leverage the existing Brand  Equity with  Customers

Most brands undermine the equity that they have created with customers over the years. This equity takes years to build and takes years to erode too (barring a few cases – like corporate fraud). In a growth scenarios and its contagious enthusiasm – too much emphasis was laid on acquiring new customers and relatively little effort was spent on building a robust relationship program with the existing customers. A program which appreciates them for their patronage, gives them genuine privileges, respects them and treats them with special care. In a tough market condition – brands that have had the foresight to invest in nurturing these relationships – have an enviable asset that they can leverage. Each one of their satisfied customer – can be made loyal and more importantly an ambassador who would drive more prospects from their network into the brand’s fold. It is never to too late to embark on the mission to optimize and leverage on your existing customer base and maintain growth for your brand. Putting and operating such a campaign requires relatively less resources – put certainly a lot of resolve and patience.

 

5.       Beware of Communication Agencies disguised as Integrated Marketing Agencies

Traditional communication agencies have had and will always have a very important role to play in awareness building of a brand. However the skills that they have and the mass media approach that they have been trained to take – when addressing a demand generation challenge may not be necessarily useful for a brand which has limited or inadequate marketing budgets. Also the effective operational execution of an activation idea on any of the alternative mediums mentioned – requires a skill set that of a specialist and a agency team which has a temperament to deliver on the ground; where the rubber meets the road. Integrated communication has become a buzz word and every agency claims to have competence to do so – beware! When you have to deliver results month after month and have very little margin to fail – do not be the guinea pig for an agency which is using your brand to build credentials as a integrated marketing agency. Look for the true experts – with a proven track record.  

Staying in action , being precise in your marketing effort , partnering with the specialist agencies who can help you to deliver more with less – is an antidote for the negative impact of recession on your brands demand.

Comments

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C'est une bonne question interesting.I agréable et très envie de discuter de ce genre de sujet pour mes coéquipiers.