Marketing in Times of Volatility

When uncertainty about the economy, the markets, and even your own company’s future impacts consumer behavior as powerfully as they do today, marketers need to be ready to revisit the fundamental assumptions about their brands in order to build stronger messaging and more meaningful interactions with consumers.

The Challenges We Face

Since the stock market has been in flux lately, many people are seeking more stable assets like gold. In addition, inflation has taken hold in the economy and that makes your products more expensive and less attractive than ones imported from countries with lower costs of living. COVID is still a serious issue in many places around the world. At the same time, consumers have become more uncertain about their financial situations, which causes them to rethink purchases they’d normally make. All of these factors put pressure on marketers’ sales targets and overall strategies.

The Opportunity We Have

In times of uncertainty, consumers will gravitate to trusted brands with powerful stories. So marketers have an opportunity to engage customers by focusing on their role as storytellers, by building brands around values and virtues that speak to consumers' needs, and by communicating compelling narratives that resonate. More than ever, today's marketing must be rooted in purpose, not just performance. We have an opportunity to re-underwrite our values and to tell a consistent, honest brand story. We should be doing this in any market, but in times of economic turmoil, it is ever more important. We live in uncertain times, with many unanswered questions about how markets will evolve and what impacts they'll have on businesses and consumers. Yet one thing is certain: during periods of volatility, we are drawn to familiar brands with strong stories about who they are and what they stand for. The key question for us as marketers? How can we make sure our brands stand out from competitors? How can we build trust? How can we develop brand loyalty? And how can we get people talking about us?

Steps for Success

1. Re-underwrite Brand Story (mission, vision, values)

Now is the time for marketers to take a step back and ask hard questions about what their brand stands for. If your brand story cannot be summed up in one sentence (which you should be able to explain verbally in 30 seconds or less), it’s probably not unique. If it can’t be explained in one short, simple sentence, try removing non-core details and refining your message until it can. Even if you think you've already been through this exercise, now is the perfect time to have another look. You wouldn’t believe how many marketers don’t even have a compelling elevator pitch for their brand stories and products. And an economic downturn is the perfect time to make sure you have one because you won't survive without it.

2. Ensure your content tells the same story

Every blog or social media post, every ad, every speech a senior executive makes, every deck - these should all be telling some form of the same story. If you laid them all out on table together it should be clear what unifies them. The big takeaway here is that if your content doesn’t feel like part of an overall narrative then it will seem disconnected from your brand and will not resonate with consumers. And while consumers may not always be able to articulate why they feel a certain way, they will sense that something is off. One easy way to test whether your content aligns with your overall message: ask yourself if you could replace each piece of content from one channel with a piece of content from another and still feel like the channel is telling a cohesive story (ignoring questions of channel-specific formatting of course).

The Future

No one can predict the course of inflation or when volatility will abate. In fact, economists are notoriously bad at it. But strong brands have lasted hundreds of years; they can be a source of comfort in times of crisis. Building that kind of brand means shoring up the clearest most compelling possible story about who you are and what you do, expecially when there is so much uncertainty in almost every area of our lives.