The initial response to an economic downturn is to keep in step with the sluggish market trends. It typically entails cutting down on marketing expenditures.
The global pandemic, skyrocketing inflation, and supply chain disruption have forced layoffs and budget cuts. Along with capital efficiency, marketing has risen to the top of the company’s priority list. Doing more with less is challenging.’
Re-evaluating their budget allocation and getting rid of marketing strategies that aren’t directly related to revenue generation are obvious places for marketing leaders to start amid an economic downturn.
Reassessing resourcing strategies is the next step. Options and agility are provided by flexible strategies that enable the expansion of a team of highly specialized marketers. While many early-stage founders prefer to work internally, now is the time to think about switching from FTEs to agencies or freelancers.
Freelancers
Freelancers offer assistance that is more cost-effective. They can usually hit the ground running and offer a great amount of flexibility. Freelancers are perfect for complex projects, like those that might take unexpected turns or where expertise is urgently required.
Also Read: Optimizing Marketing Budget Amid Economic Downturn
Freelancers can offer quick learnings that drive broader, strategic decisions for the company as the industry sees transformation in digital marketing and fluctuations in customer sentiment. Although it might be challenging to find good freelancers, there are communities that offer on-demand matching and screening that can help the business.
Agencies
A marketing agency can offer the expertise that is both current and wide-ranging. Agencies possess a macro-view of the marketing environment, which is essential because keeping up with the digital marketing ecosystem can be difficult for a single individual or a small team. Agencies can assist with benchmarking how an organization’s performance compares within a particular industry or vertical because they often handle a variety of clients.
Businesses must request a personalized proposal as well as examples of previous clients with comparable business models, success metrics, and budgets before making a commitment. An agency will only be as successful as the person running it internally; therefore, if the founder is doing that and already has a lot on their plate, the agency may not succeed despite their best efforts.
Also Read: How Great Customer Experience (CX) Can Protect B2B Marketers from Economic Downturns
What is Ideal for the business?
Hyper-growth was once a powerful indicator separating winners from losers. However, flexibility and hyper-efficiency will overtake hyper-growth as the key metrics affecting marketing’s capacity to raise capital.
Leaders must ask themselves a few critical questions when determining how to appropriately resource the company’s marketing requirements: Which marketing resource is most in short supply? Money, resources, or expertise? How critical is it to find a solution? What is the budget for marketing? Does it permit full-time hire or agency?
There is no one solution that works for all situations, so leaders must decide what is best for their business. Companies are re-evaluating how they find and use marketing talent in an environment where the digital landscape is rapidly changing. Both the number of freelancers and the perceived value that agencies bring to businesses have increased. This pattern will persist as more people are laid off as a result of the economic downturn, which is also challenging for B2B marketers who may be disproportionately affected.
Efficiency was what enabled several well-known businesses to continue to expand despite challenging market conditions during times of economic instability. It’s possible that a company’s growth over the next 10 to 12 months won’t be driven by the same marketing strategies that got it to where it is today.
The best thing a marketing leader can do is re-evaluate their objectives in light of their organization’s projections and put the necessary resources in place to meet those objectives. Due to the significance of capital efficiency during this prolonged economic downturn, an agency or freelancer may be the best alternative. Marketers that are flexible and frugal will help their businesses survive and thrive.
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