Economists and analysts are starting to worry about some possible signs of an economic downturn. The stock market has been volatile, the yield curve is inverted, and lots of observers are wondering whether the economy’s roughly 10-year-long winning streak can keep going. Even if we don’t go into a full-blown recession, even if a downturn doesn’t happen in 2019, is your business ready for tough economic times?
Here are a few tips to make your B2B marketing strategy resilient and adaptable to prepare for the next economic slowdown in your industry:
1. Diversify your portfolio of lead generation tactics
Just like you wouldn’t want to put your life savings into a single stock, you also shouldn’t put your company’s future revenue into a single source of sales leads. How are you getting most of your sales leads? Whether it’s from inbound or outbound lead generation methods, take time before a recession hits to diversify your portfolio. For example, depending on what industry you’re in and what types of customers you serve, you should have a diversified ‘investment portfolio’ of different types of lead generation tactics, such as:
Inbound lead generation
- Content marketing: Is your website up to date? Are you guest blogging on other sites? Are you offering your customers access to white papers and infographics to help educate them about your solutions? This is where content marketing can help.
- Social media marketing: Lots of people are re-evaluating their relationships with social media and wondering whether it’s still worth the time and effort, but with a good strategy and a sense of experimentation (and a willingness to spend some money on ads and sponsored posts), social media is still a great way to put a message in front your ideal audience of prospective customers.
- Search engine marketing: Using SEO to get better search rankings for your website, and paying for PPC ads on Google or other search engines, can help your business get more traffic.
Outbound lead generation
Inbound lead generation has gotten a lot of attention in recent years because of the appeal of digital technology and the potential to reach more customers at a lower cost. However, don’t ignore the realm of outbound lead generation. There is still a lot of value in contacting your customers directly with outbound lead generation, such as:
- Email: Your customers’ email inbox is valuable real estate. Having a relationship with customers via email is massively important, especially in the age of social media distractions. If you don’t already have a regular email newsletter, start one. Or even if you don’t want the formality of an email newsletter or an email marketing campaign, you should get more organised about how you use email to stay in contact with existing customers.
- Direct mail: Sending direct mail through the postal service still works, depending on your target audience and type of business solution that you sell. You might discover that your customers are getting tired of digital clutter and are more receptive to a ‘real’ message delivered to their mailbox on paper.
- Cold calling: Even with all the great technologies that we have now for marketing and sales, it’s still often worthwhile to just pick up the phone and dial your customers and prospects. Getting people on the phone can help you build relationships and evaluate your prospect’s overall business needs and willingness to buy, in ways that email or online interaction often falls short.
2. Cultivate your cold sales leads and get ready for long-term nurturing
When the economy is strong and your target market is growing and thriving, it’s easy to go after low hanging fruit. An economic slowdown requires you to work a bit harder to rekindle old relationships and nurture long-term prospects who need more time to be ready to buy. Even if your phone stops ringing as often, even if your incoming business inquiries slow to a trickle, there is still a lot you can do to work through your list of long-term sales leads and nurture those relationships. Keep contacting your long-term leads. Keep offering to answer questions.
3. Get creative
The time before an economic downturn is when you need to be ready to ask big questions about the future of your business. What is within your power to change? What can you try to do that’s completely different? What costs can you cut? What aspects of your business are getting stale or needing a fresh coat of paint?
4. Disrupt yourself first, before you get disrupted
More big questions to think about today when you want to, not during a recession when you have to: What is the biggest risk facing your business? How can you reinvent your business or change your operations today, before you get forced to make more painful changes by external events and circumstances?
5. Get resilient
What is the biggest client that you’re most worried about losing? What if you lost three of your smaller clients? What if your sales conversion rates dropped below their current levels? Could you still get enough new leads to stay afloat? Could your business bounce back? Evaluate your options and do a stress test on your business.
Recessions and downturns are inevitable; even though the economy has been on a growth streak for a few years in a row, there are likely to be some turbulent times ahead. The best way to get ready for a recession is to prepare and build resilience into your marketing and operations. Be ready to make some tough choices and re-evaluate some of your assumptions. Be willing to try new things and invest your marketing dollars differently. Most of all: be open to going back to the drawing board on key elements of your marketing strategy and mission. In good times or in bad, businesses that can stay agile and pivot in new directions are the ones that are most likely to survive and thrive.
