Marketing in times of upheaval

A friend of mine, a chap by the name of Jonathan Beeston, created a law which once you see it you will never unsee:

"However tasteless or tenuous, a LinkedIn blog will be published linking a current event to marketing or branding." - Beeston's Law

Beeston's Law is there to mock those that deserve it and to guide those that are willing to follow. In this piece, I walk the wrong side of this Law, but I do so willingly because a) I am a sad, deluded marketer who can't help himself, and b) because (honestly) I think this pandemic presents us with unique challenges in the economy and as a marketer, these are my problems to solve and to share.

So, as a sample of 1, and from my niche as a CMO in B2B tech, this is my take on how we as marketers respond to the evolving conditions created by the spread of the COVID-19 virus:

• Everything is cancelled
• Business goes on
• Double down on customer 
• Back your winners - team and tactics
• Cash is king
• Be as kind as you can
• Experiment

Let us begin...

• Everything Is Cancelled

My first suggestion is that Everything Is Cancelled. 

Anything that isn’t yet almost certainly will be. It just will be.

Here’s why that’s a sensible attitude for us marketers to take. The approaches in just the US (chaotic, IMO) and UK (grounded in science, still ‘interesting’) have moved from Containment to Delay. That means the current best outcome is a ‘lower, slower’ spread of infection. In business terms, that means it ain’t going away quickly - this will affect most of 2019. 

Maybe not, BUT the problem with hoping for Q3/Q4 recovery is that the experts believe that wintry conditions might see a second wave of infection. We will see.

In the meantime, don’t waste effort wondering if those big events, gatherings, face to face meetings or whatever else are happening or not. Assume cancellation - accept it, move on to ‘what do we do about it to achieve the same outcomes?’.

• Business goes on

Per Jason Lemkin’s post ‘What Things in SaaS Were Like in ’08-’09. And What They Probably Will Be Like in ’20’, the world didn’t end. Customers didn’t stop buying. They didn’t stop renewing. Yes, things changed as Jason describes, and yes, I will read this paragraph in one month’s time and cry into my breakfast at how naive and optimistic I was (maybe), but all the actors and agents in our global economy and society don’t want things to grind to a halt and fold inwards into nothingness. Everyone wants to get back to normality and not to have to dig themselves outta too big a hole when the recovery horn is sounded.

So as a marketer, I say keep pushing.

Shift the match of programs and investments to your priorities as required, think about cash and smart belt-tightening, and then go at your refocused plans with usual vigor and flair.

Keep trucking with the digital CX upgrade, the new website, app, the content schedule, keep honing those sales team skills, invest in being better and different. Action, effort and momentum still matter, the laws of gravity still hold.

How you might go about pushing on? Well, I’ve got a few suggestions...

• Double down on customer 

When it comes to re-looking at the plan and the budget, start here. Yes, you say you always 'think about customers around here'. And maybe you do. But re-set, re-commit.

Your customers need you, they value you, their work and personal lives have gone a bit helter-skelter too - so how can you help them EVEN MORE? Is it pivoting marketing dollars into education, retention, loyalty, is it wildcard ways to invest ‘new growth’ budgets in really locking in and loving the customers you already have?

This is what we’re doing at Brandwatch and to me it just makes sense. Not only are they/you our biggest fans, our advocates, our revenues, our innovation guides. They/you are also absolutely our biggest growth opportunity.

And fundamentally, we are all struggling with COVID-19. So how can you help your customers through that? Members of our team have chucked out awesome unprompted suggestions on ways that we can do this for our client base. I’m sure yours will and are doing the same. Help the customers get through this, they won’t forget it.

• Back your winners

Having double-checked your current-customer-oriented activities are fully backed and ratcheted up to 11, then for acquisition, for spendy stuff on the net-new, it’s a no-brainer - invest in what you know works. Both in terms of the tactics/channels that perform and in terms of the team you have. If there is a extended period of pain - then my belief is that every $ on growth you invest will pay back on a better-than-usual multiple when recovery comes. 

In times of slowdown, you get an unfair share of voice. You get unusually good value. Whilst others pull back or fail to invest in their talent and their market, you compete hard. Back your winners.

• Cash is king

Cash is king and queen in uncertain times.

CFOs are both rubbing their hands with glee at the cancelled expensive events and Travel & Entertainment budgets - seeing big rollbacks into the budget of money that won’t be spent - and simultaneously wringing their hands in appropriate fear of what they’ve seen happen before in times of recession or upheaval - accounts receivable going slow, sales teams talking about slower deals, a pandemic-sized excuse for targets being missed and things not happening as committed, internally and externally.

So what do you do as a marketer?

Don’t commit now to things that will probably be cancelled.

Think about cash - what are smart ways to handle your budgets and your investments. Where can you save, what can you decide not to do in the calendar or roadmap? 

And perhaps counterintuitively, where - DEFINITELY - could you invest more because it’s better proven, could you push something new? 

It’s not just ‘don’t spend’ because that doesn’t end well - but spend smart my dudes and keep cash in mind as a decision making filter. 

• Be as kind as you can

Tough times demand tough decisions. We’ve cancelled our biggest event of the year, our biggest single investment, we’re reprioritizing all kinds of investment choices, interesting and needed new hires, expansions. You’ve got to do it. For some, these decisions are close to existential - their businesses may falter as a result of the pandemic and the decisions many have made as a result.

What you can do though whilst making tough decisions is still be kind. As marketers we are part of an ecosystem and some are already suffering much more than others, already, just a few weeks in. In our marketing community are those who literally make their living and pay their bills from event production, from the travel sector. Many different kinds of businesses have seen orders fall off a cliff, are processing cancellations by the thousand. Marketing can be first in line for cuts when some (sadly) still see marketing as nice to have and not fundamental.

There are those in our community - many - who work freelance, without protection or reassurance or team. You know these people. Many of their gigs have already been cancelled. Many of them already deal with incredibly slow payments, before the finance teams of the world's organizations seek to improve their own cash positions. There may also be tough decisions in teams around you. We must also try to be kind. You can conserve cash and simultaneously you can also look after your community, agree on mutually beneficial ways to adapt and solve the problems you face. We need self-isolate and social distance in person, but in business as in life we need to also aspire to be good partners and hold together in tough times.

• Experiment

Lastly, this is also a chance to do things differently. 

Physical events aren’t happening and neither’s travel. So what can your team spin up that’s different and new? What wouldn’t you normally do but can risk now? What can your events partner or freelancer offer you that isn't Plan A, but sees you both fight through for something different and maybe even better? Don’t waste a good crisis. Times like these are wonderful gifts for some smart lower-risk experimentation. Get creative. Do something bold. I’m going to encourage myself to, as well.

What did I miss? All thoughts and feedback welcome.