Sport, soil and seasons

If you've felt a bit "wintery", slow, or deflated in your marketing efforts of late, look up - it's just a season globally, and here's what's around the corner. 

Before I get into that I'll share a bit of my last two weeks that actually inspired the context and content for this blog!

School holidays. Twelve days straight of tennis tournaments.

1200+ km driven. 5:30am starts. 

Countless coffees, hot chips (fries) and chocolate.
(yes my eating goes a bit haywire during these times – so I always give myself extra grace in the school holidays around what I eat. And timing of blogs 😉 )

Carrying the weight of losses, injuries, broken equipment, bad calls and rain delays.

And some bloody cold icy weather.

Such is the life of a tennis parent.  

Yet, here I am.

Again, sitting here at tennis for a sixth day this week. Early on a Sunday morning. 

Somehow in the midst, joyful for the privilege.

Of having healthy children that play sport.

Of having the means to put them in tournaments.

To drive them around all week.

And emotional capacity to pick them up when they’re at their lowest, and tell them it’s all going to be ok.

As I was reflecting on the week, I reminded myself that this isn’t my life forever – it’s it’s simply a SEASON of my life.

And just like the seasons of nature, we adapt to them.

Reminds me a lot of how many people in business are feeling at the moment.

A bit “wintery” is the general vibe.

Metaphorically speaking – especially in the northern hemisphere – although for those of us in the south, it’s figurative AND literal right now.

“Wintery” in the emotional climate of people right now everywhere in the world it seems. Wanting to curl up a little bit. Not wanting to take on too much. Just generally feeling things a little more than usual. Spending less. Being more considered around what they buy, what they do.

And generally, not wanting to do a whole lot.

Coming up to 30 years as a professional marketer I’ve seen this ebb and flow from several vantage points. In multiple different contexts.

And here's what's SO important to know. 

Experienced marketers know the importance of sustaining AND ADAPTING your marketing during times of economic downturn.

And as you will see in the next few minutes as you read on, I've distilled that wisdom and experience into a couple of powerful insights that you can literally apply to your business and brand TODAY.

Insights that will increase your ROI without spending a cent extra.

Before we get into it there’s one important thing to know.

If you take away only one thing from this blog, this should be it.

While it can be tempting to scale back on marketing during these times, the data is very clear about the short and long-term ROI impact of doing that.

A recent report* based on marketing intelligence over 20 years from over 750 brands in 45 countries and hundreds of billions of spending confirms this from previous recessions showed that 60% of brands that increased their marketing investment during periods of economic downturn saw ROI improvements. (*ROI Genome Report, Analytic Partners, May 2023).

"During recessions, when most firms are cutting back on their brand advertising, a firm’s share of voice increases if it can maintain or increase its advertising budget" (Harvard Business Review).

And conversely a plethora of studies show that companies that reduce their spending take way longer to bounce-back afterwards, and are not positioned to capitalise on the uptick when it comes.

These are generally referring to big brands with a lot to spend.

But I’ve seen this over and over again in other small business contexts too.

And I’m going to show you how to adapt this if you are a personal brand or small business brand.

And my point isn’t that you should be spending more at this time (on the contrary actually!)

So let’s talk about how to increase ROI without spending more.

The same study* showed that during these times brand messaging beat performance messaging for ROI 80% of the time – and so there is wisdom in adjusting the message, focus, and strategy behind such during these times.

When customers hunker down and are less action-oriented, it becomes harder to get them to take purchasing action. In these times, for personal brands there is much wisdom in adapting by following these principles.

1. Expedite Connection - focus on the brand-building focus by talking aboutwho you are, what you do and why you do it, less about products, offers and promoting your stuff (even in CTAs).  
   
   
2. Grow Your Audience through visibility across multiple channels for increased exposure at a time when a lot of people are tuning out.
   
   
3. Use relevance to stay front of mind - Focus on fresh messaging and insights inspired by current events and more sparing use of evergreen content – only if it’s genuinely relevant and helpful and still timely.

All of these things are solid marketing principles to incorporate all the time (of course!) but in seasons like we are currently in,  the gift is the space and focus on these even more, as less effort goes towards driving action, performance and purchases.

As we saw during Covid - the role of empathy in marketing can't be underestimated.  

"Content during recessions must reflect the challenges that consumers are encountering. Consumers in a downturn want to see brands show solidarity. Successful brand advertising during a recession not only injects humour and emotion but also answers for consumers the question: How can we help?" (Don't cut your marketing budget during a Recession: Harvard Business Review)

Things will change. And when they do, you’ll be front of mind and in the driver’s seat.

Your ROI will come in so much quicker than everyone else who then starts “ramping up again” when there is an uptick in customer spending.

I was deeply inspired even as I write this message.

Because I practice what I preach.

I continue to show up consistently. And do all the three things I mentioned above. All in a very sustainable way

You may have noticed my messaging overall has adapted too – very rarely do you see me promoting something and selling something – instead I focus on building my brand and becoming more widely known in my area of expertise.

And because of the way I do it most days I am approached by people wanting to work with me, refer someone to work with me, or share and amplify my message and brand.

Yes, I could do more promotion. But honestly, it wouldn’t yield as high of an ROI. 

There’s way more ROI through using this season to position myself and build my brand.   

It’s no accident that I chose this time to write and release my upcoming book, Marketing Me.

I’m utilising this time to amplify visibility, create & nurture relationships and as well as sharpen my message and refine my thought leadership.

All of which are hugely valuable business assets that aren’t built overnight or through a single campaign.

And I plan to continue creating impact for decades to come.

So for all the challenges that come with it, I truly see this season as a gift. 

The thing is, the next season is around the corner.

And so just like the farmer continues to plant their seeds regardless knowing there are “natural cycles”, and they have faith in nature's ability to grow the seed - so too it is with our business, our brand, and what we choose to do in our career and professionally.

So this is my encouragement in the midst of whatever you’ve got going on.

Keep planting those seeds.
(share your awesome content with the world)

Keep watering your soil.
(staying in touch with and encouraging your customers and community)

Keep nurturing those seedlings.
(stay the course with your basic marketing – don’t just do things ad hoc or up and down knee-jerk things – find something you can do on rinse-and-repeat with ease – and do it consistently if you’re stuck on ideas take a read of my one-hour-a-week marketing approach)

Keep tending those growing plants.
(feeding and nourishing, and strengthening that brand that’s emerging and visible to the world.)

And finally.

Trust that if your soil is healthy, and you keep planting the right seeds, you WILL reap the harvest.

******
 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Nina Christian is a Marketing Futurist & Global Marketing Mentor who helps people do their marketing in a more human way. 

She is a Certified Practicing Marketer (CPM), Life Member and Fellow of the Australian Marketing Institute & AMI State Chair (Vic) and for 20 years was director of Braveda (Winner, Best Marketing Agency, Australian Marketing Excellence Awards).

Several years ago Nina saw the world of marketing shifting – this time as people became their own brands.  With this, she created a new business as a thought leader, combining her expertise in brand building with personal positioning, resulting in a breakthrough praxis known as Marketing Me™.

She has a knack for simplifying the complex which comes from being a hands-on mum to five children, and uses this to turn time-sucking activities into easy-to-follow systems and processes that make a lot of sense and get outcomes fast.

There are different ways to work with Nina based on your situation and organisation size - with all of them you'll see rapid transformation and tangible outcomes fast. Book a chat with Nina here.