Well hello there! Catherine Langman here with you on the Productpreneur Success Podcast! Welcome to the show if you’re a new listener, and welcome back if you’re a long-time listener!
I’m super excited to bring you today’s episode, which is essentially all about what you can be doing in your business right now so that you can not just survive, but thrive, no matter what crazy things are going on in the world right now.
Spending money on marketing and investing in growth for your business is pretty easy when times are good and we’re riding the economic gravy train.
But I know I’m not the only one right now feeling as though things are a bit scary and uncertain right now. What with the devastating floods (unreal how many natural disasters one country can withstand – it’s like we’re either burning or drowning in recent years!), or the war in Ukraine and the flow-on impact to our economy on the cost of oil and fertiliser. I read just yesterday that the price of veggies is going up by 75% in many supermarkets, and I’m sure most of us are feeling the pinch at the petrol bowser lately.
Which all sounds very depressing and anxiety-inducing. We’re scared about the future but we’re also scared of the day to day and the fear of what happens if our customers stop buying?
I see so many business owners pull back on expenses such as marketing and advertising.
But it’s so important not to shrink too much when things get tough. Because it ends up being a self-fulfilled prophecy: reduced marketing = reduced sales.
So how can you be smart about reviewing your goals and getting the most out of your marketing to thrive and not shrink during these times?
That’s what we’re going to talk about during this podcast episode.
But before we dive further into this episode, I’d like to ask you a quick favour: if you love this episode, would you share it with one or two of your business besties? Especially if you know they’re looking to generate more traffic and sales on their eCommerce website this year. It’s super easy to share – just click on the icon next to the podcast on whichever platform you listen to it, copy the share link and then send it in a message to your friends.
OK, let’s dive into the episode…
Right now, I’m seeing two very distinct trends happening when it comes to ecommerce marketing and advertising.
One trend belongs to small business owners wanting to pull back from product launches or marketing campaigns because they are afraid of coming across as mercenary or inappropriate while we have whole communities in crisis from the flooding.
And the second trend involves business owners fearful of investing anything into their marketing or advertising because of the increased cost of living or uncertainty in our economy right now.
And frankly – both those fears are completely legitimate right now. We’re all feeling it, well I know that I am anyway.
At the end of the day – not promoting your business for fear of offending others doing it tough does not serve the rest of your customers who actually need what you have to sell.
And not promoting your business because costs have gone up and you’re worried about making a profitable return on your ad spend, will be the fastest way to drive your business into the ground.
Neither of those outcomes is good for you or your customers!
If you long for “the good old days” in business, the way they were maybe when the Covid-induced eCommerce shopping blitz when it was easy to make money online, then things have to change. And I’m not talking about the economy or our politicians, although goodness knows we need some change happening there too. I’m talking about us and our businesses.
If we want to regain the success of the past, then we need to change our marketing and how we go about doing it.
The problem is that when things become challenging, there’s a tendency to reach for the tried and true strategies we know for sure used to work. And here’s what happens. As we continue to do more of the same marketing and our results decline, we typically end up doing one of three things.
One course of action is to start doing less of that marketing because …well…it’s not working as well as it used to. Taking this course of action amounts to resigning ourselves to “riding it out” and accepting that things are going to be lean for a while.
For many brands, it seems like a no-brainer to drastically cut marketing spend. Drastic budget slicing leaves you in a larger hole down the road.
The plain and simple fact is nothing is permanent, even a recession or inflation or whatever other challenge we’re living through. Eventually, there will be a slow climb out followed by an increased period of growth. If you take resources away from your marketing now, you’ll be digging yourself out of a much larger hole than your competitors come recovery time. And that won’t only leave your marketing results in trouble. Your whole business will be left in a state of repair while your competitors benefit from your struggle.
Drastic cuts come from thinking short-term. Success is all about the long game. And even if some cuts are necessary, which may be necessary, it’s important to find other ways to supplement those cuts so you can continue to promote your brand.
The second course of action is to start doing more of that marketing because…well…it’s not working as well as it used to. The problem with this course of action is that it ignores the underlying cause of why it is no longer as effective as it used to be. And so by just doing more of what we used to do, we often alienate the people we’re trying to attract. The reason for this is that whatever it is about our marketing that no longer works hasn’t changed. When we continue to market in a way that doesn’t connect with our customers and potential customers and we do more of it, it ends up becoming annoying and ultimately pushes people away.
The third course of action is to become more aggressive in our marketing because…well…it’s not working as well as it used to. By being more aggressive, I don’t mean in its frequency, but in the message and/or manner in which we conduct our marketing. First of all, most of us aren’t pushy by nature, so getting “assertive” doesn’t come across very well, and causes our audience and us to both become uncomfortable. Secondly, by not addressing the root cause of the problem and simply delivering the same message as before – just more insistently – we really do push people away. You know how hard it is to make a sale when you really, REALLY need it? The same negative dynamic occurs when being assertive during challenging times.
And the final aspect making this third course of action counter-productive is that during challenging times, people are edgier, more frustrated, and have much less patience. Being “assertive” during challenging times will always backfire.
So if doing less or doing more of the same marketing or just being louder about it isn’t the answer to growing your business during challenging times, then what is?
Obviously the answer is doing something different. Which is all well and good, but what exactly is this “different” thing? There’s an old saying that goes: “Observe what everyone else is doing and run the other way.” It’s tempting to look around, see what everyone else is doing, and jump on that bandwagon. But here’s the problem…
Most people don’t know what they’re doing. So just because the masses are doing something, doesn’t make it effective. And even if something is working for someone, it doesn’t mean it will work for you. Finding a marketing strategy that’s working well for someone can give you important insights. But rather than simply copying their strategy, it is important to understand why a strategy is working for someone. We all know of someone who has had a great deal of success using one particular marketing strategy or another. And it’s good to make note of what they’re doing. But there are two critical aspects to take into consideration before implementing it.
The first thing to consider is when they had their success. Are they having their success right now, or did their strategy only work well five years ago, during different times? The second thing to consider is how they did what they did. People often succeed with their marketing because they do it in a way that closely matches their style of communicating. If you try marketing in their style, you won’t have anything near the success they had or that you want.
I’ve seen very successful marketing strategies that worked because they suited the marketer’s style really well and happened during better economic times. In fact, I’ve tried a number of them in my own business. And while some of them worked well for me, others failed miserably.
Here’s what I observed… If a marketing strategy is extreme in any way – in its message or form of delivery – it only works if that style is a close match to your personal style. If it doesn’t truly reflect who you are, it will never work. If a successful marketing strategy isn’t extreme, you may have some success with it. But if you don’t tailor it to match who you are, you’ll only have “some” success and not great success.
Typically, the marketing strategies that work best during challenging times are those that improve the connection to and relationship with your customers and potential customers, and that give them the most value. “Pitchy”, impersonal marketing is less likely to have much impact. Also, because the most effective marketing strategies during challenging times are those that deepen or establish a relationship with our audience, it becomes critical to conduct that marketing in a way which reflects us as best we can. The message and the delivery of that message need to be in alignment with who we are.
Here’s what I would be recommending right now:
Love on your existing customers as much as possible. Reward your loyal customers with legitimate value, whether that is first dibs on new products or sharing value-based incentives with them via email and SMS like bundling gifts with purchase or volume discounts or free shipping offers, taking the time to pack their order with a bit more attention and care than usual, or adding little freebies into their orders. Have a think about ways you can surprise and delight your existing customers – it really doesn’t take much to make others feel appreciated.
Work on providing the best customer service possible, across any channel your customers might use to communicate with you. This includes prompt and meaningful engagement on social media, as well as email and messenger.
If a customer asks a negative question publicly on your socials or asks for help solving an issue, don’t try to hide it (unless it’s actually a troll of course). Be transparent and prompt and helpful – doing so will be more likely to win over that customer as well as any others who were thinking the same thing but hadn’t asked. I’ve had situations in the past where a customer who was struggling with an issue to do with the product, but with the right help delivered in a friendly and prompt manner, the customer was completely won over and stayed on to become not just a loyal repeat buyer, but also an advocate who frequently recommended the products to others.
Potential customers are also wowed by prompt and friendly customer service, including when engaging with and replying to them on social media posts. It seems that the customer service bar has been set so low and so many customers have become so used to really poor service levels, that anytime they receive prompt attention it really stands out and often results in a sale.
Keep working on creating high quality content to share on social media and email. By high quality, I don’t necessarily mean expensive production, but I do mean being authentic in what you put out and trying to form meaningful connections and engagements with your audience.
I also like to put some money behind some of this content – education-based video content can work very effectively at attracting, engaging and warming up an audience on social media, which can then be receptive to retargeting ads designed to drive traffic and sales on your website. If you’re trying to work out a way to have a cost-effective ad strategy that still achieves results, then this is what I would do.
Next – use this time to work on improving your website user experience. Start by installing a heat map like Lucky Orange to track how your website visitors are navigating your website and see what insights you can learn. Are they finding it hard to navigate or shop, either on desktop or mobile?
Then, take a deep dive into your website analytics. See what areas you can improve on, from page load speed to tweaking images or headlines or product descriptions or adding an extra payment option or information page or add in bundles or an upsell app or whatever else you can think of to try and improve your conversion rate.
Ultimately, if you can improve your conversion rate even just a bit, you will make more money off the same number of visitors.
And lastly, you want to knuckle down on using your free marketing strategies, like search engine optimization and email marketing.
The thing is – there will always be customers out there who want and need to buy what you sell. But if you need to find cheaper ways of reaching them, then you’ll want to be relying on strategies like SEO and email.
I’ve got loads of resources on these strategies to help you too – head to the podcast at catherinelangman.com/podcast or head to productpreneuracademy.com for specific training bundles.
There is always so much more we could add to this, but hopefully what I’ve shared with you today gives you some useful insights and inspiration for what you should prioritise this year.
The key takeaways I want you to remember from this episode are:
- Focus on giving your customers the best possible experience and providing as much value as you can. Which definitely does not mean just discounting!;
- Use free and cheap marketing strategies as much as possible; and
- Be as consistent as possible with marketing. If you cut back now, you’ll have an even bigger repair job down the track.
Doing these things will help you to ride out a tough time and come out the other side with a thriving business.
Of course, if you’re keen for some help with this stuff, please just give us a shout! Whether you need help to learn and implement these things, or you’d like to outsource to our team, just head over to productpreneurmarketing.com and you can book in for a free strategy session.