However, marcomms can be even more precarious in a cost of living crisis. Financially precarious as some senior stakeholders look at budgets and see it as a line to cut. However, in our 30+ experience, when things are tight, it should be the time when you increase your presence, shout louder to your audience and differentiate yourself from your competitors – which of course is what marcoms can do for you.
Marcoms can be a big investment – not just in terms of budget if you are employing an external agency/consultancy – but also in terms of time and effort – those consultants will need your expert input. Yet it can also have a massive return on investment, if strategically planned and implemented.
1. Align your marcoms with your sales strategy – we wrote in detail about this here, but it still amazes us how many organisations undertake comms for the sake of comms. And even if they do have a central marketing function that has a communications strategy, many of their senior stakeholders go rogue rather than support this strategy.
2. Really find your gold dust. When budgets are squeezed communicating how clients/potential clients should be choosing your business above your competitors is essential. In recessionary times, business normally slows but it doesn’t stop, which means there will still be business to be had but might be harder to win.
3. Which leads to key messages communication. Relook at your key messages, do they need to be refined? Is value more important to communicate? Think about the context of the marketplace you are communicating to.
4. Don’t be scared to acknowledge challenges ahead but use these challenges as a platform to show how your organisation can help with the solutions. Many companies know their problems, the issues ahead – however, finding solutions to these challenges will be where they might need your help. Illustrating how you can help might trigger that conversation, that becomes a lead and a new client.
5. Communicate past experience. If stakeholders are more cautious with their finances, they will want to ensure more than ever that any budget they do have will be spent well. Therefore, communicating examples where you have added value to a client’s organisations, showcasing credentials and testimonials to endorse your work will reassure clients old and new.
We all know that you need to invest to grow, but many don’t see the investment in communications as part of that growth strategy.
Image courtesy of https://unsplash.com/@freestocks with thanks.