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This article is the first in our new series: Marketing During An Economic Downturn. Throughout this series, we will be sharing articles that aim to guide businesses through difficult economic terrain. Across a series of marketing topics, you’ll learn actionable tips for using proven tools to guide you through tough times. From handy product insights, to ideas and inspiration, this series will be a valuable resource to any business looking to meet today’s challenges head on.
So, you’re running a business during an economic downturn. Now what?
As a business owner, you have regular expenses ranging from commercial lease payments to supplies and subscriptions – not to mention wages. You’d love to hire more staff but the current unemployment rates are not helping on that front. And though your regular customers are still supporting your business, news about rising interest rates and inflation means everyone is a little bit on edge. It’s natural to feel the pressure under these circumstances.
If you were able to survive and adapt through the pandemic and all the associated challenges, there’s a good chance you’re in a great position to survive this economic downturn too. Rather than abandoning all investment in marketing and risking an even deeper slump, now is a good time to rethink your marketing strategy and experiment with new channels.
Email marketing is a popular, flexible and cost effective way to grow your business and build sustained customer relationships. Here are three tips on how to use it effectively, even during economically turbulent times.
Email marketing tip 1: Start now!
Email marketing is an effective method for driving revenue and building sustained customer relationships. Today’s email marketing tools make the experience of setting up and running email campaigns incredibly simple. And the sooner you get started, the sooner you can start to drive results and build a valuable customer email list.
Some business owners make the mistake of holding back from email marketing because they haven’t built up a large customer database yet. There is no need for this. By setting up your email marketing as soon as possible, you’ll be able to:
- Start getting email performance insights right away, no matter how small.
- Create templates and email settings you can easily leverage as you grow.
- Create a system for customer relationship management from the beginning.
Getting started with Square Marketing takes just a few minutes. You can start with a free 30-day trial before choosing your subscription tier (starting from $20 per month).
Email marketing tip 2: Create a campaign to promote seasonal sales
In weaker economic periods, customers become more price sensitive and may look for ways to reduce their discretionary spending in restaurants and retail stores. This makes it all the more important to consider promotional campaigns.
Timed promotions are standard in retail – from Black Friday to Boxing Day and a series of other calendar days and seasons. But you are not restricted to the traditional “sales” if you want to create your own unique promotional offer, like a celebration of your store’s first birthday, for example.
Promotional or sales campaigns sent out to your entire email list are also known as “blast” campaigns and can be used as the primary marketing channel to notify your customer base about your offer.
Offering a coupon to be used online or in-store can provide an extra push to customers considering a purchase. This is easy to set up and measure from your Square Marketing account. Just click Create Campaign, then go through the steps to choose and customise how your email campaign looks and the coupon code you will offer.
You can also make any promotional discount code shareable by posting them to your social media accounts.
Email marketing tip 3: Make your regulars feel rewarded
Customer loyalty is key to the long term success of most businesses. But it’s even more paramount in an economic downturn. Now is an important time to invest in initiatives that reward and nurture your most valuable customers. From an email marketing perspective, there are a number of opportunities to explore.
Setting up an email automation flow in Square Marketing is a smart way to turn a brand new customer into a potential VIP. After making their first purchase, the customer can automatically receive a promotional email reminding them about your business and encouraging a repeat purchase. Emails like this make it achievable to stay top of mind for customers.
Becoming an email marketing pro no longer takes hours of work and costly fees. In fact, email marketing continues to provide the best ROI of all marketing channels for the majority of businesses. While you weather the turbulent economic days ahead, make use of this proven channel to bolster your business now and into the future.
This article is for informational purposes only and does not constitute professional advice. For specific advice applicable to your business, please contact a professional.
