There has been a lot of talk in the media about recession and how it is headed our way, and with the cost of living increasing on a daily basis, there is no wonder. I don’t want to be all doom and gloom, we see it every day something else has gone up in price, and we don’t know where it might end.

As a business owner, this is scary watching, it’s bad enough having the pressures of running your own business without the uncertainty of recession, but whatever you do, don’t hide!

Now is the time to get your business in full strength and ready to do battle. Invest in SEO, brand awareness campaigns and make sure your product service is the one that makes it through the other side. Be agile, adapt to the changing needs of your audience. Think about new target markets and how your product or service could benefit them, maximise every opportunity.

We saw it through Covid-19, the companies that adapted to home-living and moved online and continued to promote their products and services rode the wave of lockdown, some even came out with increased profits.

The marketing budget is often the first one to be cut, the first department to see redundancies and this is where so many companies go wrong. You need to maintain your brand strength, yes there may be a need to consolidate your brand offering and apply more focus, but not to just cut out marketing altogether, this could be fatal.

Successful marketing requires consistency over time and the best time to focus on marketing is before recession hits – THE TIME IS NOW!

In the recessions of 1981-82 and 1974-75, companies that continued to invest in advertising saw more growth than their competitors that shrunk or eliminated their budgets – and in 1981-82, that growth was a staggering 256%. In the 2008 recession, many businesses debated whether to trust the economy, and advertising expenditure dropped by 13%. Yet statistics showed 3.5 times more brand visibility for companies and organisations that maintained their marketing output.

Now that is food for thought…

When recession hits, consumers look carefully at their spending and perceived value, so you need to work on increasing that loyalty and brand strength now. There are lots of tactics you can use, but beneath it all the strategy is to look after your customers to the best of your ability and better than your competitors.

So get onboard with your marketing agency now, review your strategy, discuss your future objectives and build that brand so you are ready to take advantage of any opportunities the recession brings.