SMEs have had to close, suspend or reduce their activities due to the Coronavirus pandemic and most are looking for ways to minimise their cash out flow however despite the temptation they should be wary of cutting their marketing budgets.
But if your business disappears from the market and in doing so is no longer top of mind for your customers and clients will you be able to regain your position or will others who continued marketing replace you?
Withdrawing from the market may suggest you have gone out of business, as indeed will be the case for many as a result of the Coronavirus pandemic.
While it is understandable that SMEs in dire financial straits will want to preserve cash by cutting back on expenditure, some newly-published research from Opinium, released on March 26 has found that people do still want to hear from businesses of many kinds.
The research revealed that “a very large majority of people in the UK would like to hear either the same amount, or even more, from brands” across a range of categories including the essentials such as healthcare and pharmaceuticals, supermarkets, food and drink and household goods but also from healthcare to fashion and beauty to entertainment.
Of course, many of you have reacted quickly, communicating your actions and in many cases pivoted your business model as a response to the crisis.
One example is a small bakery that has closed its shop and set up an outside market stall so customers don’t need to go inside and a drive-by collection service for other customers who order by phone and don’t want to get out of their car. Another bakery does deliveries to hospitals and essential worker sites.
There are examples of SMEs in the hospitality and restaurant businesses that have been forced to close their doors to the public and have responded in different ways, in the case of some hotels, by offering accommodation to such people as health care workers or the homeless and restaurants that have quickly established food takeaway and delivery services as well as special deals for key workers such as those in the NHS.
Some in fitness, health and beauty have moved online to offer their services remotely to help people in lockdown stay not only fit and healthy but also to be able to look after their appearance.
Of course, all of these will be remembered positively when the crisis comes to an end and it is likely that their business will recover more quickly that those that shut down. Plus, if your business has a website you need to protect its place in the search engine rankings with regular blog posts and ongoing marketing activity.
Perhaps more surprisingly the research found that many people want “brands to talk about something other than the pandemic”.
“This desire for something different is symptomatic of a consumer who is struggling to find their place in a drastically different world”, it says. So, any marketing that can convey some sense of normality is good for your business.
Opinium also asked people what were their preferred forms of marketing communication and top of the list came TV advertising (31%) and e-mails (40%).
While the desire to cut the marketing budget may be understandable when margins are tight, clearly it is far from the right thing to do if you want your business to return after the crisis.
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