Congratulations if you kept up with your marketing efforts amid the COVID-19 pandemic! Now you have record inflation and a recession to deal with. Words like “recession” and “economic downturn” often make marketers pump the brakes. But instead of cutting your marketing budget, you really need to reallocate your budget for success, and that takes working with a content marketing company.
Find out why content marketing offers meaningful ROI and how you can leverage it for success.
Why Does Content Marketing Matter in a Down Economy?
Stopping marketing in an economic downturn is different than it was years ago. In the past, marketing meant expensive efforts like television and radio commercials, billboards, magazine ads, and newspaper ads.
Now, you can do everything online, and content marketing is essential to that strategy. Content marketing is 62% more cost-effective than traditional marketing methods.[1]
If you’re trying to be conservative with your marketing spend, content marketing allows you to keep working your strategy while trimming costs. And content shows prospects and customers that you’re consistent – maintaining your brand visibility and providing value to your customers, even if they pause their purchasing for a while.
Those same prospects and customers will remember your brand when the economy shifts back to spending. If you cut all your marketing, you’d have an empty pipeline and no competitive edge with customers.
Content Marketing Requires Consistency
Content marketing is not an overnight tactic – it takes time and consistency to see results. You must look at long-term success and put in the resources before seeing positive ROI. This is especially true during an economic downturn.
Customers have needs, even if they can’t make a purchase right now. They will still look for solutions, learn about different offerings, and consider their options. This matters later when they’re ready to make the purchase.
If you stop, this momentum suffers. You won’t have new keyword rankings, new traffic, or new content that’s getting shared elsewhere. Your audience may not be able to find you, even if their needs align with what you have to offer. You’re not on their radar.
Consistent content marketing will shorten the economic downturn’s time and depth with leads and conversions.
Your Recession-Proof Content Marketing Plan
Trim Costs
You’re not ceasing your marketing efforts altogether, but you can sometimes cut your budget. The non-mission-critical budget areas are perfect for operating lean. For example, do you need to purchase new equipment or take a business trip with a team right now? Those costs may be better spent on your marketing efforts.
Of course, you don’t need to cut costs immediately. Wait until you see a dip in business activity. Consumer demand and spending activity will vary significantly by segment and industry, so avoid making massive changes without needing to do so.
Monitor your pipeline for changing trends. Your email marketing platform, SEO tools, and CRM offer user, lead, and customer behavior insights.
Adjust Your Goals
Reaching marketing and sales goals is important for keeping teams feeling positive. But if those targets are unlikely, it will only frustrate the teams. Avoid setting yourself and your teams up for disappointment with unrealistic goals and forecasts.
Switch Your Focus to Lead Gen
Converting paying customers is key to earning revenue. It may be tempting to put more effort into conversions during an economic downturn, but you should, most importantly focus on maintaining a strong overall lead generation strategy.
The leads you generate right now may not convert as quickly, but they will over time. Don’t neglect your inbound or outbound lead gen efforts – it’s important to keep your pipeline full and keep your leads engaged until they’re ready for purchase.
Repurpose Your Old Content
If content creation costs are a concern, consider refreshing and repurposing your old content. You’ll boost your traffic for a fraction of the cost of new content.
First, identify your best and worst content in terms of performance. Refresh your best-performing content with updated statistics, new information, and new visuals.
Then, look at your worst-performing content and delete anything irrelevant. Make changes as needed, such as new visuals or better keywords, to try to boost performance.
Old content like this can be a great source of new leads. According to research from Hubspot, its old content accounts for 76% of page views and 92% of new leads. That’s a lot of traction for older pieces.[2]
You could also repurpose content by turning it into something new, such as making a blog post into a short video or infographic.
Plan for the Future with a Content Marketing Company
Content marketing in a recession requires long-term thinking. If you stick with your marketing throughout the downturn, you’ll be ready to bounce back when customers return to spending. If you’re ready to gain traffic and leads with optimized content, contact us at Full Circle SEM!
Sources:
[1] https://www.demandmetric.com/content/content-marketing-infographic
[2] https://blog.hubspot.com/marketing/historical-blog-seo-conversion-optimization
