Marketing During the Coronavirus Crisis: What you need to know

Hints & Tips

3 Apr

Marketing is an investment not a Cost

If you’re marketing a brand at the moment - be it a school or business - you will almost certainly have some concerns around what is best to do with your marketing efforts and spend at the moment. Do you continue spending on advertising & marketing, decrease spend and activity, even increase it? How can you justify spending time and money on marketing when your pipeline is uncertain, or when colleagues are being made redundant?

Following a brilliant webinar with Mark Ritson from Marketing Week on this exact subject, I’ve summarised some of the key points that anyone marketing a brand at the moment, should know. I’ve also included some of my own thoughts and examples I have come across of businesses adapting well. I was reassured to hear that what I have been advising my clients (which is based on my own learnings after the 2008 recession), is also endorsed by top global marketing experts, and a century of studies on marketing during crises and recessions. This is that, for many businesses, continuing marketing during a crisis has been proven to benefit your business long-term for many reasons.

Here is a brief summary of the Webinar: Marketing in the Time of Coronavirus:

Marketing is an investment, not a cost. Now and always.
Businesses can be classified into three categories during a crisis: Flex, Fix and Freeze. ‘Flex’ are not greatly affected, or have been positively affected - like supermarkets. ‘Fix’ will cover many businesses - they are affected in some way by the crisis and should adapt their marketing and messaging. Like Uber focusing more on their Uber Eats business while their Uber Taxis are barely able to be operational. ‘Freeze’ - businesses like BA who are unable to carry out their business due to air travel restrictions. There’s little they can do.
We are in phase 1 of 3 of a crisis: 1) Crisis 2) Fake pneuma (temporary semblance of normality resuming) 3) Economic recession.
The crisis period could last 3/6/12 months - we don’t know. So what should we as marketers be doing/thinking about during this uncertain period?
If liquidity allows, and after staff welfare has been taken care of, Fix companies should focus their efforts over the next 3 months on making money for their business or school. Sounds obvious, but this may require a complete overhaul of the usual way of doing business. Examples of this are a restaurant completely overhauling their business model and turning their website into an online food order system (like the Punchbowl here). Or a school tutor packaging their teaching and selling it as an online package. Catering companies offering domestic food box deliveries. Spas offering at-home treatment packages by mail order.
During this time, the marketers’ approach should be predominantly tactical. Some may find strategic foundation, but the majority will need to shift to a tactical messaging approach, such as the above. Focus on the distilled core of your business, taking away everything that is restricted by current regulations. With what is left, work out how you can package that, and deliver in in a way that is useful to people NOW.
65% of consumers said that how brands react during a crisis affects whether they buy from them in future - how we act and market our business or school now, really matters.
Marketing during recession or crisis proven to result in higher ESOV (Share of Voice minus Share of Market) relative to your competitors. If competitors stop or decrease their marketing, you will reap the rewards over them when the crisis/recession is over. This has been proven in studies of the 1920-23 recession, the 1974-75 oil crisis, and the 1990-91 recession in the US and the 2008 recession. Importantly, there have been absolutely no studies that contradict this finding.
Advertising budgets during a recession: Decreasing budget will not hurt you - yet. Maintaining budgets will grow you share. Increasing budgets will deliver growth post-recession.
We have two weapons during a crisis or recession: brand and ads. Use them both.
Remember that advertising has long as well as short-term return. 50-60% of advertising has long-term return. Don’t lose sight of this now, when you may be seeing a short-time dip in pipeline. If your liquidity and business model allows you to continue advertiisng, it will pay off.
If you want to stay or get ahead of your competitors - now is the time.
If liquidity allows, marketing is best place to be putting your budget right now (after employee welfare is taken care of).
Your long-term growth during and post-recession will be strong, relative to that of your competitors.

I hope you found that as helpful and interesting as I did. If you need any support with your advertising or marketing during this time, please don’t hesitate to get in touch for a consultation call .

Want to know more? Marketing Week is offering this webinar on a regular basis over the coming weeks. To listen to the next live webinar in full for yourself, sign up here.