As unprecedented as these times may seem due to COVID, economic downturns has long been part of the cyclical nature of running and marketing for a CPG business. Looking back at how various companies reacted in the 2008 recession, studies show that being overly opportunistic during a downturn does not bode well for companies in the long-term. It is never okay to exploit and profit off of people’s fears – period. However, for legitimate businesses and entrepreneurs looking to provide value, there are ways to nurture your brand through this contraction.
Is It Appropriate to Market?
Many of you may be thinking that it’s inappropriate to market during such trying times. But that couldn’t be further from the truth. Mark Ritson said it well: “The wheels of industry need to keep turning so workers are paid and families are fed. Those wheels are best greased by effective marketing.” Indeed, there is a way for companies to authentically do good while simultaneously building their brands.
Depending on the size of your company, your team may or may not have thought much about brand positioning up to this point. In the beginning of building a food and beverage company, your focus was the product itself. Then you get the product into hands of people at farmers markets, trade shows and in-store tastings. With a great product, you can let word of mouth carry you for some time. Then, as your company grows, it’s easy for the everyday minutiae of doing business to get away from you. You don’t have time to pause because there’s too much to do: social media content to churn out, packaging to design, teams to build, a website to maintain, relationships with distributors to manage – the list is bottomless.
For many, marketing and advertising is on the backburner until a later stage in the company’s growth. However, for highly strategic leaders, they understand that an investment in marketing needs to happen sooner rather than later. And the good and bad news of a worldwide epidemic is that you are forced to slow down. This gives you time to take a step back and revisit your overall brand strategy – a high-level assessment you otherwise may not have found time for.
When it comes to marketing, this is no time for short-term gimmicks. This is the time for long-term branding. A flash sale will not get you through a recession, but building a strong brand will help you, not only survive the downturn, but thrive in the aftermath. The reality is that many companies will retreat. Even though it may not be the smartest move, many will see it as the safest. This means less competition for you which, in turn, makes it faster and easier for you to glean results from your marketing efforts, at a much lower budget (e.g., cheaper pay-per-click ads – more on this later).
Below, we offer some steps you can take to build your brand during the coronavirus-induced downturn.
Create an Ideal Customer Profile (ICP)
Also known as Buyer Personas, ICPs are descriptions of your ideal customer (the folks you want to attract / sell to). The goal of ICPs is to help you flesh out and gain a better understanding of your customer base. By doing so, you and your team can be more aligned on how you message to this audience across all channels through which your brand is represented. That is, it enables you to be more cohesive in the way your brand is positioned.
The persona should include information about your target customer’s age, job title, salary, location, lifestyle attributes, goals, influencers, etc. For example, a retail artisan chocolate brand might have the following persona:
“Busy Mom Beth” is between the ages of 28 and 40 and lives in a major metropolitan area. She works full-time as a mid-level manager at a corporate company and makes between $60,000 to $80,000 per year. Beth loves to hike, work out, and cook healthy meals for her family. She prefers to buy organic and often browses Pinterest and Instagram for baking ideas.
ICPs can be much more detailed than the paragraph above (containing many pages of information) but even a short blurb can be a great step in better positioning your brand. The personas may be informed by actual data on your customers. Though if you don’t have the data, these descriptions may also be more aspirational.
Of course, more needs to be considered in these personas when it comes to an economic downturn. Be sure to include what kind of “spenders” each of your personas are per the types discussed previously, as well as, how they prioritize your products within their consumption categories.
Craft a Brand Kit
A brand kit is a short guide to your brand’s visual identity. After someone reviews your brand kit, they should get a good summary of your logos, colors, fonts, aesthetic style, and messaging. In addition to providing a snapshot of your ideal customer profile, a brand kit should be highly visual. Typically delivered through a deck (slideshow format such as Google Slides, Keynote, or PowerPoint), brand kits allow people to see how your brand is represented.
Brand kits are important in a way that is very similar to why ICPs are important – they help you, your team, and anyone who produces content for your brand to stay aligned on your goals, target audience and what your brand embodies.
Brand kits are the reason why McDonald’s golden arches are transfixed in our minds, why we immediately think of Coca Cola when we see those cursive letters in red, and why, when we encounter Brawny paper towels, we think of toughness and strength. It helps companies stay cohesive and unified in the way their brands are perceived.
If you need a brand kit, we offer a free brand kit creator here.
Take Advantage of Ad Dollars
There is a famous adage that states: “When times are good you should advertise, when times are bad you MUST advertise.” While it’s easy to resort to conventional fears that will tell you to pull back any and all spend, there are a number of reasons why advertising during a recession is a good idea.
Less Competition
Firstly and most obviously, the best reason to advertise is because others are not. We briefly spoke to this point previously regarding the inevitable event that many companies will pull back their spend during a recession. When others cut back, there is less “noise” clogging up the ad channels in your space, making it easier and more inexpensive for you to get attention.
More Share of Mind
Speaking of attention, when brands go silent for a period of time, it loses the consumer’s “share of mind,” which brings us to our second point. If people aren’t seeing your brand, they’re not thinking of your brand, and they’re less likely to buy your brand’s products in the future. Again, if you’re looking to build a brand that endures, you need to make sure your brand stays top-of-mind once the economy is revitalized.
Symbol of Stability
Brands that continue advertising during a recession show strength and stability. Remember that during a recession, particularly the one we may be heading into now that is intertwined with a global health epidemic, people’s buying behaviors change due to all of the uncertainty around them. Their trust in the system and the economy is reduced. Symbols of security and authenticity are ever more powerful during downturns.
Case Studies
Let’s look at two case studies that have proven the above ideas to be effective. During the Great Depression, Post (who was the leader in dry cereal at the time) cut ad spend drastically. Meanwhile it’s competitor Kellogg doubled their spend, while introducing a new cereal that you may have heard of: Rice Krispies. Kellogg’s profits increased by 30% and snap, crackle and pop over many decades (sorry, I just had to) and they are still the category leader.
During the 1990-91 recession, McDonald’s made the decision to decrease their investment in advertising. Pizza Hut and Taco Bell did just the opposite. The results showed McDonald’s sales dropping by 28% as Pizza Hut’s sales increased by 61% and Taco Bell saw a 40% bump.
Develop a Content Strategy
A content strategy is a marketing plan for producing, distributing and managing content. Content can include things such as blog posts, case studies / testimonials, videos, audio / podcasts, social media posts, etc. In order for a content strategy to be effective, you must know:
the audience for whom you’re creating the content (this is the time to revisit your Ideal Customer Profile)
the format of the content
the channel through which it’ll be published
how you’ll manage the development of such content
how the content will be used to show how your unique products will solve your audience’s problems
The reason content marketing is so valuable is because, in addition to being vital for brand building, it is extremely cost-effective when done right. Compared to paid ads, producing content requires more time and management than it does direct dollars. Namely, you, your team, and perhaps the freelancers or agencies you bring on will be responsible for creating these strategies and assets, as opposed to paying for every click on your ad. Whereas the latter will produce faster results in a more costly manner, content marketing – when done right – can be an inexpensive, long-term play in building a brand that lasts. And with a content strategy in place, you will be set up to make the best use of the resources you dedicate to these efforts.
If you’re curious about the type of content to produce, check out our post on How Food Brands Can Create Viral Content.
If TikTok is not currently part of your content strategy, this post will challenge your current assumptions about whether the app is worth your time and energy as a marketer or business owner.