When you’re flying into a storm, don’t switch off an engine

Change for the better

Change is a characteristic of any downturn, for good and for bad.

You may find you acquire new customers, as well as lose some.  You may also see changes relating to the audience segments you currently target.  So a supermarket might see an influx of consumers buying its own-brand product range, even if this audience previously bought exclusively top-end brand products.

That said, it’s also been shown that many consumers remain reluctant to swap brands, even as things change around them.  There is clearly something comforting about familiar, trusted brands and products.  Or perhaps there’s a resolve and determination not to be beaten down by events, or even a belief that if you can hold on to some sense of normality, things can’t be that bad, can they?!

Whatever the dynamics of your particular market, your marketing team will be well placed not only to spot change but to take advantage of new opportunities as they present themselves during what is going to be an uncertain period of shifting loyalties and transformation.

Flying through the storm

So with all of that in mind, here are a few suggestions to might help in navigating your way through any tempestuous times that may lie ahead:

1. Reinforce customers’ emotional connection with your brand and even demonstrate empathy (for example, conveying a sense that “we’ll get through this together”).
2. As always, segmenting audience and creating relevant buyer personas that clarify the audience’s underlying concerns, their financial means, and their expected approach to a downturn, is an extremely helpful exercise to help tailor messages accordingly.
3. Consider particularly how a downturn is likely to affect people differently depending on where they live or the sector in which they work. The impact of the economic crash in 2009 was felt very differently across the country for example, with some barely impacted at all. Others, meanwhile, are clearly still suffering ten years on as a consequence of the austerity measures put in place at the time.
4. Flexibility is key, and requires an agile mind-set such that strategies and tactics can be adjusted. By all means assume any recession will be long and hard, but keep a weather eye out to respond quickly to change when it comes.
5. And remember there are always market niches where your messages will carry greater traction, weight and influence. Never stop looking for them.

In Conclusion

Pilots have a number of choices when it comes to setting a flight plan with a predicted storm within it.  These might include delaying their flight time (possibly upsetting their paying customers), flying round it, over it, or even flying through it.

But what they DON’T tend to do is shut down an engine and reduce their principle means of staying airborne!

Economic downturns and recessions are hard for (almost) all businesses, as well as for the customers they serve. Hopefully the lessons learned from the 2008-9 recession mean that many more businesses are preparing with flight plans designed to maintain and build value, not destroy it.

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