Recession vs. post-recession marketing

The landscape of business is intensely challenged during a recession. This process forces marketers to precisely redefine their brands and know exactly what they stand for during tough times. There is a tremendous challenge in interacting with and engaging a nervous recessionary consumer. It is still critical, however, to build your brand personality by highlighting ease of use and an unmistakable experience. This encourages your target consumer to spend time learning about your brand, even though they may be holding back on making a purchase in the short-term.

Post-recession marketing presents a great opportunity to capitalize on pent-up demand and growth that will quickly ensue as the consumer reenters the market. Here are a few ideas to help keep you ahead of your competitors during this time.

Research the consumer confidence in your brand offering and expect that your target market has evolved their purchasing behaviors into a "new normal". Some industries may not recover the trust of the marketplace for years and years to come if they were dramatically effected by the downturn in the eyes of the public. If this is your industry, make sure to test your creative in advance to measure if the copy content and imagery is building solution-oriented comfort in your brand. There is no substitute for a well detailed analysis of your campaign before it goes to market.

Capturing new leads is essential to growing your business in a post recession economy. If your target consumer has been out of the market for some time, there is the potential for pent-up demand to catch fire quickly if many return to the market at the same time. Marketers who satisfy the needs of this demand consistently will position their company to gain market share quickly. Make sure to measure how many of your sales-ready leads score compare with your ideal customer profile on a month-by-month basis. Watch this measurement closely as a key velocity metric that demonstrates the momentum your brand is gaining. Don’t be afraid to spend aggressively as the market finally shows signs of life through an increase in inquiries from campaign-specific landing pages.

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