Will the economic crisis result in a shift of focus from Technology to People?

The current high inflation environment across Europe and North America (10% UK; 9.1% EU; 8% US) has significant challenges for both consumers and brands. Many consumers have started to prioritize purchases and reduce discretionary spending. Companies are also experiencing challenges, with the situation affecting their operational capabilities and profit due to supply chain disruptions, soaring raw material, energy and transportation costs. As a response, most companies have been forced to increase prices in an attempt to protect profit margins. Some companies have also started cutting marketing budgets, since advertising is often perceived as an easy cost to cut in order to regain profits.

In any crisis, it is important for companies to understand how their consumers will likely behave and adapt their strategies accordingly. In times of inflation and economic uncertainty, it is even more important for companies to create and deliver value to consumers and differentiate from competitors. But how do you create and deliver value? By investing into your PEOPLE, or to use a modern term – your “Human Marketing Stack”.?WHY? Because it will be your people – as in your employees and business partners who need to find creative solutions to this crisis. Because your company relies even more on the relationships with your actual customers to thrive and survive. And because you need more than ever the creative input from your agency partners and opinion leaders to adjust your media channels and marketing messaging.

When it comes to investments in this “human marketing stack” I believe there are four main subgroups that should play a role in every CMOs strategic response to any crisis:

1. Employees

With new software and automation tools transforming marketing and media, and new social platforms requiring ever new approaches to consumer engagement it is vitally important to keep training your?marketing teams?on both old and new tools and best practices. While many Generation Z graduates who are hitting the job market right now might be totally fluent in social media and digital marketing tools, many of them lack the basic knowledge of traditional media and brand strategy. Hence it is really important to keep investing in marketing training and coaching programs to ensure your teams can make the right decisions and acquire the right tools. Maintaining investments into your marketing teams will also improve their level of job security, which is critical for being creative and innovative. And companies need the creativity of their marketing teams now more than ever before to find innovative solutions to the economic challenges ahead, to pivot with new products or services and come up with new campaigns to bolster sales.

And when it comes to your wider organisation, there is still a vastly unexplored opportunity that could amplify your marketing activities by turning your employees into brand ambassadors.?Marketing Week ?recently recommended that:

“Brands should encourage their staff to act as ambassadors for their business – in fact, they should be considered a key communications channel.”        

Whether you are a business with tens of thousands of employees or two, it is foolhardy not to attempt to use them to promote your organisation and its business. However nobody becomes an ambassador simply by receiving a mass mailing informing them about the latest product launch. Turning employees into brand ambassadors requires dedicated efforts, training and investment into the right tools and techniques. some first insights and tips for business leaders to clear the path for employees to become advocates for their brands and their company in attached LinkedIN post.

2.?Influencers & Key Opinion Leaders

Influencer marketing is flourishing as more brands realize the importance of human-to-human communication and social interaction and hence allocate bigger budgets on creator related activities. Influencer not only provide organic reach in social media but according to?neuroscience studies , content and communication coming from an actual human will also trigger more emotions and stay longer in our minds.

And with the shifts in media consumption away from advertising funded classical media towards subscription based and on demand services, brands already face an issue reaching out to younger audiences. Contrary to this negative trend on traditional media, the number of?social media users ?is still rising fast, with new social platforms attracting ever more broad and niche consumer groups. With the help of the right influencers, brands are able to leverage these social networks and engage effectively with their target audience.

In contrast to the fast-paced digital marketing world, building?long-term partnerships between brands and influencers is key to success for both parties. Developing these cooperations can work for all types of influencers (nano, micro, macro), but it requires a greater level of trust and deeper collaboration on both sides. Based on our experience at TERRITORY Influence , I’ve seen that this effort can ultimately deliver a better impact for brands and influencers.

3. Consumers

People should not only be considered to buy your products – in fact the term consumer is too limiting given the relevance and importance that buyers today have in sharing messages and building opinion and preference about brands and products. Zappos Family of Companies , Trader Joe's , 亚马逊 , Red Bull , The Body Shop , 谷歌 and SodaStream International, Ltd. all built their brands without advertising. Their brand advocates are their marketing department. In fact, the three most powerful social media companies– Facebook , Twitter , and LinkedIn – never spent a dime on advertising or paid people to recommend them. They didn’t need to. their customer turned into brand advocates and used word-of-mouth and social media to recommend them to their friends.

Consumers wallets – but more importantly consumers online and offline recommendations - hold the power to either boost your sales or cause your business to disintegrate. Hence we at TERRITORY Influence (Bertelsmann Group) have started to call consumers co-marketers or nano influencers. Engage with them at eye-level, ask for their feedback, act on it, and they will feel valued and truly become part of your marketing team. Investing into your CRM program, direct marketing or facebook brand page to upgrading them to a real community hub that nurtures brand advocates can be extremely powerful as seen with many companies during the last years.

4. Agencies

The ongoing discussion about the benefits of in-housing agency work overshadows the fact that marketing still need creative talent, whether it is within the company or at an agency. They are the ones who create great brand assets – from product design to advertising copy, from corporate blogs to your new jingle.

It would be easy to conclude that advertising has flipped to all science and no art. But then along comes fresh creative to show us what really sells. And while algorithms and AI already helps agencies to be more productive and enhance their services, in my pov we are still years away from computers doing the creative marketing work for us entirely. Or as Julia Kirby?wrote?very eloquently in?Harvard Business Review :

"It would be easy to conclude that advertising has flipped to all science and no art. But then along comes fresh creative to show us what really sells"        

Summary & Conclusions

During times of crisis it is tempting for many CFO to cut marketing & advertising budgets – especially investments targeted at people vs technology. However investments in your human marketing stack might yield the highest return and are critical to navigate economic uncertainties and times of high inflation. More insights about the power of focusing on your human marketing stack in one of my Forbes articles, as well as Territory Influence’s dedicated “Marketers Guide to a Crisis ” ebook where we also provide insights & best practices regarding the traditional Marketing Ps.

As always I am looking forward to your feedback, comments and further advise for marketing during times of crisis. and do sign up to my monthly?LinkedIN newsletter ?to stay up-to-date with the latest social media marketing trends, insights and discussions.