5 Steps To Keep You Marketing Agile and Navigate Recession

Sequoia Capital?presented a 52-page memo, “Adapting to Endure”, to its portfolio companies at May’s Founders All Hands meeting. Sequoia predicted the potential recession in this presentation. It encouraged portfolio company CEOs to prepare themselves to “avoid the death spiral.”

I took pieces of their advice. Here are my thoughts on how marketing should proactively prepare for the uncertainties and economic hardship.

The most agonizing decisions that founders and senior managers need to make are where to invest and where to cut. And where to invest or cut has consequences.

The strategic directions must come from the top for marketing to execute well.

Here are five proactive steps that marketing decision-makers of B2B companies can take to get teams ready for what’s ahead.

1. Incorporate marketing into your products and services

Marketing can do what they can to promote new products. However, once they drive the traffic to the sites for sign-up, the overall digital sign-on and self-onboarding need to be seamless and straightforward to encourage purchasing decisions.

Another way to incorporate digital marketing communications into products is to apply relevant content to your apps or software platforms.

In a way, your product becomes a channel of your marketing communications and sales enablement tools.

2. Crisp, clear messaging, and no fluff

The pandemic accelerated not only digital transformation but also digital interactions.

Your potential customers no longer have the patience to wait for you to respond in 5 days. Now, they also want B2C-like services and responses.

In addition, digital touchpoints need to be easy and seamless, and your copy and product messaging both need to be crisp and direct.

Write copy to keep it concise and to the point. Pare things down wherever possible.?

3. Understand your audience deeply through rigorous testing

The keywords here are “deeply” and “rigorous” testing.?

I learn about my target audience daily based on the content I publish, comments I receive, and direct conversations with them.

Use a variety of ways to test your messaging, copy, and creative concepts. Find out what makes your audience tick.?

4. Complete sales and marketing alignment via sales enablement

When every dollar counts, it’s critical to lend a hand to sales teams. Marketing needs to qualify their sales contribution.

One of the best ways to support sales is account-based marketing. Complement sales efforts when the team is working on new strategic accounts.

You can find my ultimate account-based marketing guide?here.

Another option is to gauge the purchase intent of potential leads. For example, you can run a particular email campaign for attendees who came to your webinars.?

Whatever content you add in your campaigns needs to provide clues if they are interested in buying now or learning more about your services.

5. Continue to optimize your marketing outreach with relevant content

Educate your management and sales team about your marketing plan and the channels you are using to build awareness and drive demand. Help them visualize your strategy and plan for implementation.

Be transparent about campaign results, including the good, the bad, and the ugly. If you do well, let them know. If you didn’t do well, let them know why and how you will do better next time.

Have a deep understanding of what you’re doing and why, and then help others to see your logic.

Should you cut marketing when times are tough?

Your marketing budget and staff are the first ones on the chopping block.

Cutting your budget and/or staff members is never an easy choice, so it’s crucial that you understand the consequences alongside the potential benefits.

Downturns and recessions challenge everyone. The key is to have a collective plan, stay close-knit, and adapt and change as a unit.

No matter how rough things get, there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel. Stick to your values, and you’ll be able to weather any storm.

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If you need help on B2B Marketing and Sales Enablement,?book a call with me. It’s complimentary. Or connect with me on?LinkedIn,?Twitter,?Facebook.

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This article was published first?here?on?pamdidner.com. Head over there for more B2B, marketing, sales and sales enablement tips.