“When times are good, you should advertise. When times are bad, you MUST advertise.”
As the Coronavirus continues to change communities everywhere, businesses everywhere are pivoting, cutting workforces, and minimizing or eliminating marketing budgets. Business flourishes during and after a slowdown by doing something that may seem counterintuitive: increasing marketing investment.
What do businesses wanting to emerge post-Coronavirus as winners do?
“Reduce costs selectively by focusing more on operational efficiency than their rivals do, even as they invest relatively comprehensively in the future by spending on marketing, R&D, and new assets. Their multi-pronged strategy is the best antidote to a recession.” –Harvard Business Review
According to Harvard Business Review, they “reduce costs selectively by focusing more on operational efficiency than their rivals do, even as they invest relatively comprehensively in the future by spending on marketing, R&D, and new assets. Their multi-pronged strategy is the best antidote to a recession.”
In other words, cutting workforce (operational efficiency), pivoting (R&D), and increasing investment in areas such as marketing videos and digital marketing can actually increase your chances of thriving during a downturn.
In fact research from 600 US companies during the 1981-1982 recession showed that cutting advertising is a bad idea, reinforcing the old adage “when times are good you should advertise, when times are bad you MUST advertise”.
If it were, you’d never see music videos with millions and sometimes billions of views, you never see hit animated videos either. YouTube’s Search and Recommendation systems use hundreds of determine how to rank videos and certainly the average view duration of a video.”
Why is a recession the best time to go against the flow and actually increase your investment in marketing?
1. Less digital marketing “noise” from rivals
Competition significantly drops when others cut back marketing spend, and with businesses closing and cutting budgets, a recession is the perfect time to reposition your brand with a new digital marketing content, like explainer and product videos.
2. Cost of digital marketing drops
Ad platforms like YouTube, Instagram and LinkedIn are powered by supply and demand pricing models, meaning in times when most marketing budgets shrink, ones who maintain search, display and video marketing campaigns will enjoy significantly lower costs.
3. Project corporate stability during challenging times businesses
Maintaining a consistent marketing drumbeat helps show customers that your business has no issues and is still helping customers grow their businesses.
4. Cutting back results in losing “share of mind” with consumers
When you cut your marketing, you lose the momentum you’ve built up and ultimately it can harm brand awareness and take years to regain.
So if you want to put your business in the best position to thrive during and after a major recession like Coronavirus, going all in on video marketing before your rivals can recover will make all the difference in whether your businesses will fail or flourish during tough times.
And with more people working from home these days, and watching videos on YouTube and other online video platforms, video marketing these days is one of the most powerful ways to engage with your audience and drive sales.
Whatever you do, don’t let a recession go to waste.
Questions? Contact us today and get started on your next marketing campaign.
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