Marketing outsourcing – it’s a solution many businesses consider at the best of times. Throw in the impact of a rough bushfire season (remember that?!), followed by a global pandemic (with wave after wave of effects), and the need to outsource dials up a whole lot of notches.

If the COVID-19 pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that Australian businesses and business owners are resilient. But it also shows that when swept up by an economic storm that is battering us with hail that feels like the weight of the world, businesses can re-invent. Transform. Slide into a different way of operating their business. Or to use the catchphrase – pivot!

In fact, nearly three out of four executives agree that the changes brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic present an opportunity for growth.

Ask yourself:

• Will your customer’s needs be different? Yes.
• Will the way your business needs to operate change? Yes.
• Will you need to be innovative? Yes.

A global crisis signifies two things – danger, but also opportunity. But first, we must weather the storm we’re facing. 

Outsourcing is the lifeline to help you through the economic downturn we’ve hit. But not just that. It also opens opportunities to find new ways of conducting business. New ways of marketing to the audience you’re targeting because they’re looking a little different to what they did before we hit this ‘new normal’.

Why marketing is important during an economic downturn.

Unfortunately, many businesses have been forced to slow down recruitment of their marketing personnel. Or, worse, stand staff down temporarily due to the uncertainty that comes with recurring lockdowns. 

Many businesses make the mistake of pushing back their marketing during economic downturns. The rationale? To save costs. Cut expenses. Stretch funds elsewhere.

But now is not the time to reduce spending on marketing and advertising. In fact, the opposite is true. It’s the businesses that continue or even step up their marketing efforts that survive. And, in fact, thrive, during these difficult times.

In a study conducted to measure the effects of marketing during and after recession, researchers studied a group of businesses, putting them into three distinct groups. Those that kept marketing during difficult times, those that stopped, and those that increased their marketing spend. Of the groups, the businesses that decreased their marketing efforts saw their market share drop by 0.8 per cent and those that maintained increased by 0.6 per cent.

Interestingly, the businesses that dialled up marketing during the downturn saw a 4.3 per cent increase of market share when the world returned to normal.

Continuing your marketing helps you stay relevant. And it ensures you recover quicker when the economy does turnaround. 

Take Citigroup for example – they were one of the only banks to have grown since the 2008 recession because they spent time working on branding and offering quality services. They invested time and resources in their marketing and supported community services to help support and grow their brand story.

Or consider Lego for a moment. They invested in the expansion of their business into a global market during the U.S. 2008 recession and reached an all-time high profitability.

But seeing opportunity is very different to seizing it.

Finding the way to navigate the economic storm and come out stronger can be difficult when you’re wading through the water and tackling the headwinds yourself.

If you want to have a chat, I’d be happy to discuss the ways that marketing can help you find your way through what is certainly a challenging, yet potentially opportune time, for local Hunter-based businesses.