Adapting your marketing strategy to fluctuating times
Published: April 2022
Can you count how many times you’ve mentally used the word ‘crisis’ to describe what’s happening in the world in these past few years? COVID, various fuel crises’, climate change, global wildfires, energy shortages, wars, to name a few.
Can you recall how all of these issues have changed the way you run your business? Working from home is of course the most memorable. Perhaps you have faced product shortages, or even staffing issues. Customers rarely know the issues we all face as a business during times like this, but that gives Marketing a chance to sit centre stage and navigate situations in ways that benefit their customers and themselves.
Remembering your customers
Many moons ago, the phrase “The customer is always right,” used to rule the roost, and this strategy did indeed hold to build consumer confidence and loyalty to businesses. But today, the average customer is better informed, more socially conscious, and more fiscally responsible than in previous decades. This is why we must hold our customers in the highest regard. If your marketing strategy may appear insincere, then you can rest assured that your customers may see through it, and therefore limit its effectiveness.
Make sure you do right
Remembering that your customers will recognise insincerity, it’s important that any marketing campaigns that you run have to be socially conscious. Offering free delivery on products in an advert that recognises the raging cost of fuel prices might be an effective way to show your customers that you are supporting them. On the flip side, offer free delivery to lower environmental impacts of shopping can leave you open to questions about the green efficiency of said deliveries and your business as a whole.
When you pick your next advertising campaign, take the time to see how it might look from a critical point of view, as the grass is not always greener on the other side.
You’re still a business!
It’s all well and good to try and help your customers, and we’re sure they will be grateful and remember your contributions. That being said, you still need to sell your products and services. This is an area where a lot of companies struggle with rapidly shifting situations.
If current issues are causing a lack of a certain product, then the smart move is to market your closest alternative. Product loyalty is a very real issue when it feels like the rug is pulled from under your feet, but promotions and offers can always tempt loyal customers to a more readily available product.
Communication is of exceptional importance between the marketing team and customers, but also with other internal departments. You cannot sell a product you cannot make or order, so make sure you are in constant contact with your warehouses and supply chains to more accurately predict how to shift your campaigns in the near and mid futures.
Contact us for a chat today on 0191 423 5688 to find out how we can help achieve your objective of a successful marketing strategy.
