It's hard not to think about macroeconomics right now.
Unless you're a brand marketer in a recession-proof industry, or an agency marketer with a portfolio of clients in a recession-proof industry, you're working against pressure and the pressure to perform.
These feelings can help some traders become hyper-focused. But they also lead many to make hasty decisions that affect the health of their businesses in the short and long term.
In this article, you'll learn about some common mistakes marketers make and more thoughtful alternatives that position brands for long-term survival and success.
First mistake: cutting instead of cutting
You may have heard that marketing is a steering wheel.
This means, especially with the self-learning capabilities of the platform's leading algorithms, that spending less means that a hard reset will last longer than it takes to revive campaigns.
what do you do instead
If possible, highlight a campaign that shows results. If you need to save costs:
- I know you are in good company.
- Take a deep breath and start connecting again (but don't cut completely) as you will see a less immediate effect.
If you don't see clear opportunities in certain areas of the campaign, you may want to segment more specifically:
- Campaign level top funnel, middle funnel or bottom funnel.
- Ad group level targeting.
This helps you determine where performance is relatively poor and worth reducing.
The second mistake: cutting without reference to the account history
Times are especially tough for beginners. Without lots of benchmark data, they can't go back to their past account history to make smart budget cuts.
An account's track record (especially if it's from another crazy time, like the first six months of the COVID-19 pandemic) is less of an excuse for more established brands, but I've experienced it.
what do you do instead
If you are a beginner and don't have a backup archive of performance data, yes Have your account managed by an agency that is strictly limited to extracting insights from similar accounts they have had in the past. (Of course, you should involve your organization in all important decisions.)
If you have a more established group of accounts, go back to at least the 2020 data for analysis:
- How do you redistribute the budget?
- it worked in the short and long term.
- Which has lasting effects (good or bad).
This gives you a good strategic starting point for promoting products or services that are relevant to your business.
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Mistake 3: Cutting CRM data without reference
I've seen it many times over the years, and not just during recessions: marketers who react to surface-level metrics without understanding the real business impact make poor budget decisions.
Example:
- A B2B brand puts more budget into getting cheap CPL than any source with the most qualified leads that convert to opportunities.
- An eCommerce brand lowers the budget for the audience with the highest CPA because the average lifetime value of that audience is 50% higher than the other audience.
In times of massive cost cutting, your most valuable audience, segment or campaign may be meeting your budget goals now, but will hurt revenue in the long run.
what do you do instead
If you haven't synced your marketing data with your CRM data, now is the time to prove it.
At the very least, make sure you understand (on the B2B side) which channels generate the most qualified leads (if you're waiting for development resources, you can track them in a simple Excel spreadsheet). Prioritize other areas to reduce costs.
Mistake #4: Closing new campaigns early
In a heavily algorithmic marketing world:
- Campaign optimization takes time and data.
- The tests need enough time to produce statistically significant results.
Raw indicators are not the whole picture, nor should they be all the information you need to make a decision.
what do you do instead
Instead of panicking and worrying, focus on new themes and messages as you adjust your offer types. Look at all the improvements you would normally make and resist the urge to downgrade your campaign without understanding your true performance limit.
In the B2B space, where data density takes longer to build, some are implementing high-volume growth indicators that translate data faster.
CTR can also be a decent proxy to start with (as long as you respond to high/low conversion situations by optimizing funnel weaknesses).
Fifth mistake: Missing the opportunity
While this may be a worst-case scenario for many retailers, at least one of your competitors is likely to do worse, meaning they give up market share and/or put lower costs on the table for you to capture.
(If you work for a retro brand and are on a tight budget, this matters to you too, as you'll see lower CPMs and CPCs on your social channels once the election and holiday season is over.)
Yes, many of us are defensive for a reason. But if you spend all your energy savings, you're missing out on expansion opportunities.
what do you do instead
Pay attention to weekly cost trends so you can quickly spot (and anticipate) market weaknesses.
Pay close attention to industry news, especially platforms you haven't tried, that indicate a general downward trend in costs that makes those platforms more viable.
Another factor is the trends and market changes you can target with your campaigns. When the traditional ideal customer profile (ICP) develops new vulnerabilities:
- Make sure your marketing is targeted at them.
- Communicate developments to your leadership team so they can consider appropriate presentation changes.
Above all, do your best to approach your campaigns from a long-term perspective that prevents you from wasting all your time and money on mere survival tactics.
Great traders come out of recessions
You will find that each of these mistakes should be avoided at all costs, not just in financial situations.
There are proverbs about great business people coming out of recessions.
Whether a recession forces you to adopt new good habits or bring back the good habits that helped grow your business, the fundamentals of good marketing apply.
Keep them in mind as you navigate the difficult cycle of internal messages and meetings.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the guest author and not necessarily those of Search Engine Land. Staff writers are listed here.
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