EMBiz: How To Prepare For Marketing Volatility

Hi guys, Laurel Mintz here, Founder and CEO of Elevate My Brand. And this is EMBiz. Oh, it's been a time, has it not? Today we're going to talk about how to prepare for marketing volatility in a volatile market. I want you to know, like things aren't always rainbows and sunshine. We've been through this before, we've been through a lot of ups and downs, but, but it's really important to stay the course. 

What is marketing volatility and how to prepare for it

So marketing volatility is something that agencies, brands have dealt with since the beginning of time. It's really about, I don't know, girding your loins maybe and making sure that you're focusing on the things that are really converting most for you. You should be doing that always, of course, but even more so now when you are feeling a little bit of a squeeze or a bit more uncertainty of what's gonna happen in the markets. Even more so important to narrow the focus, narrow the budget, and really be myopic in terms of how you're marketing. 

Stay The Course

Since things are so unpredictable, you are going to inevitably see volatility and fluctuations in your marketing performance. Now this could be a good thing, actually. What we have historically seen is that brands tend to cut marketing budgets and what that means for you as a brand is if you continue to stay the course, as I said, and double down on your marketing efforts and you can actually pick up more market share for the same, or maybe even a little less spend, I mean, statistically it just makes sense, right? So again, that's why we'd say stay the course. 

Understand Market Seasonality 

Know the timelines. So last year we had an election cycle that was wild and wonky and really challenged budgets again as well. So making sure that there, if there is a timeline to that volatility or an industry specific cycle that you need to be aware of, that you are building that into your overall marketing timeline and budgeting accordingly, maybe pushing budget more into these categories or, or these areas or leaning it out more when you know that you're going to have more or less competition. 

Think Outside The Box

Number three is get creative. This is a great time to be thinking about things like cross-marketing partnerships, how to leverage other people's audiences organically to make sure that you are tapping into new markets. We talk about this a lot in the nonprofit world, so doing some sort of donation component on a monthly, quarterly, or annual basis. But this is a great and organic way, oftentimes targeting similar audiences with ancillary non-competitive businesses who have the same targets. 

Be Responsive

And as I said, I'm going to close it out the same way I started it. Maintain, Maintain your presence. Just because the markets are volatile doesn't mean you have to be reactive. And in fact, that's kind of a best practice in life, right? Being responsive, not reactive. Especially when there's wildness happening all around you and be the eye of the storm. Be calm, be steadfast in your marketing, and be focused.