Marketing - The Luxury You Can Afford!

The latest iPhone, the freshest fashion trend, and the newest offering from Netflix - by anyone’s standards, these are certainly considered a ‘luxury’ - comforts that may have come under fire as a result of Coronavirus. In everyday life, people are scrimping and saving to cut costs for their own cash flow. And when it comes to business, indulgences are under threat, and rightly so.

We know that your priority is ‘keeping the lights on’ in an office that seems no more than a distant memory. So, you’ve had to make some tough cuts to save on cost and keep people in jobs. 

You’re probably well into the tactical delivery of your BCP (Business Continuity Plan) and hitting pause on those activities that are deemed a luxury. Some business leaders will shave costs from their marketing budget which has been the bugbear of your balance sheet - it’s only going towards some social posts and PowerPoint presentations, so that definitely counts as a luxury, right?

If you answered yes to the last question, your brand may be in trouble. No, not just because you’ve discounted the work marketing teams do on a daily basis, but you’ve strongly underestimated the power that marketing yields. Much more than a luxury, marketing is the key driver for cashflow - it encourages people to visit, interact and ultimately spend with you. And isn’t that the key aim right now? Yes, the usual operations of your business are quite different than before COVID-19 hit the UK, but your consumers and target audience are still out there with more time on their hands. They’re WFH on their phones, laptops and scrolling through social channels. They’re waiting for some great content to save their brains from boredom, give them food for thought for the future, and a glimmer of hope. That’s where the power of marketing comes into play, and disruptive and progressive recruitment businesses are seizing this opportunity to their advantage.

Whilst they may not spend with you right now, if you cut that all-important marketing budget and only give radio silence, why would they listen when the world presses play again? You literally left the room with no more than an apology. You expect engagement when times are good, but what about now?

More than anything, now is the time to plan, prepare, and push ahead. It’s an opportunity to build your brand, when the messaging of others may be crumbling around them. Think about it -  your competitors are scrambling to save and their marketing budget is on the chopping block. So, why not take this opportunity to fuel your output? Ultimately, you’ll end up louder than others in your sector, and rise above the noise so your target audience can listen. 

Yes, it will take a ton of guts and grit, but maintaining or even increasing your marketing spend when all others are reducing will make you stand out as a market leader. So many businesses claim to be at the forefront of their sector, so this is the perfect opportunity to put your money where your mouth is and prove to your audience that you are the obvious choice when the time comes to it.

Don’t want to just take our word for it? Research highlights that strong brands recovered 9 times faster than their weaker competitors in the fallout of the financial crash in 2008 - a potentially similar situation we may see ourselves in when the Coronavirus crisis ends. So, it’s a firm fact that those who sustain or even increase their marketing spend at this time will hold a distinct advantage over those who were quick to slash their budget when we come to Q3/4 later this year.

The key message here is that we know - it’s a terrifying time and shaving some savings from your marketing budget may seem a quick fix, but when this is over, where will that leave your brand? There’s two clear options - you can take the fast route and fall behind, or you can dig deep, gear up and put your messaging into overdrive to cement your position in your audience’s mind as the market leader. Which would you rather?

And you don’t have to do it alone - Marmalade Marketing works with some of the most progressive recruitment businesses in the country, who are not only maintaining their marketing output but are fuelling it to take command of their markets over the coming months. We’re here to help, and are running a range of initiatives to strengthen post-pandemic pipelines, so that businesses are in an even better position once this ordeal is over. Next week, we’ll be publishing a free guide packed full of tips and tricks to circulate to your teams, which can help to keep your content informative and your audiences engaged. 

So, ask yourself again, why would you press pause on your marketing now? If you’re still stuck for answers or are ready to kickstart a fresh campaign, reach out to us for a chat - usually, we’d provide biscuits, but in the current climate cookie emojis will have to do.