When the economy takes a downturn, everyone scrambles to find ways to cut costs. Small businesses, which can lack the resources of larger corporations, are especially susceptible to the effects of recession and hyper-competitive markets.
As such, small business owners must take precautionary measures to defend their companies from harmful economic pressures. When your company operates online and has an internet presence (i.e., it has a website), you have the ability to protect your business from recessions and other negative impacts of a recession. With the right steps, you can even use this opportunity as an asset rather than be hurt by this challenging time for businesses in general.
The following 9 digital marketing and website tips will help you minimise the effects of a recession on your business’s website so that it continues to operate efficiently and effectively during these difficult times.
Ensure your website has a responsive design.
The most effective way to defend your website against the negative effects of a recession is by ensuring that it is equipped with a responsive design. A responsive website is one that automatically adapts its design to accommodate users browsing its pages from any device (a desktop computer, smartphone, or tablet.)
This is essential for a couple of reasons:
– First, you’ll reach a wider audience. A responsive design essentially allows anyone with an internet-enabled device to see your website, which is especially important during a recession. During an economic downturn, people are more likely to be on the move and may not have access to a computer or even their own home. Having a responsive website will allow anyone with access to the internet – no matter where they are – to view your site. This will help you reach a wider audience, allowing you to generate more business and sell your products and/or services to a larger customer base.
– Second, you’ll save money. Hosting and maintaining a desktop, tablet, and mobile website can get expensive, especially if you have multiple types of pages. Instead, by building one responsive website, you’re able to host one website that can be accessed by any device. This will not only streamline your website’s management but also save you money on web hosting and maintenance, as well as the cost of building and managing multiple websites.
Diversify your marketing strategy to include email marketing and social media.
When the economy goes down, and consumer confidence and spending power decrease, companies that rely on advertising as a primary marketing strategy tend to feel the blow the most. While advertising is a necessary part of marketing your company’s products and services, it is also important to diversify your marketing strategy to include other digital marketing tactics.
Email marketing and social media are two digital marketing tactics that can help you minimise the effects of a recession on your business’s website.
With email marketing, you can continue to generate sales and drive traffic to your site through email campaigns, which are a cost-effective way to maintain your business’s sales and grow your customer base.
Social media is also a useful tool to generate traffic to your site and build brand awareness in a cost-effective manner. Although the amount of money you spend on social media ads may have to increase due to a decrease in cost-per-click (CPC) advertising rates, the overall effectiveness of your ads may still be strong if you diversify your ad strategy.
Be cautious about relying on PPC ads.
Although pay-per-click ads (or PPC ads, as they are commonly referred to) are an effective way to drive traffic to your site during a recession, be cautious about relying too heavily on these ads. Rates for PPC ads often decrease during economic downturns, making them less effective and costing you more money to maintain your digital marketing campaigns.
However, keep in mind that although economic recessions may cause CPC rates to drop, click-through rates (CTR) may actually rise. As consumers become less likely to click on digital ads, a click-worthy ad may become more important than ever. This is why it is important to diversify your ad strategy to include other types of digital marketing, such as social media and email marketing. Read more here about PPC advertising in another recent blog post we put out.
Don’t overcommit to any one ad platform.
When the economy goes down, and ad rates decrease, you may be tempted to increase your ad spend across all of your ad platforms. However, while this may seem like a good idea, you could be left with no way to pay for these ads if rates continue to drop.
Instead, be selective when it comes to increasing your ad spend. Instead of increasing your ad budget across all platforms, commit to improving the quality of your ads by creating more compelling ads. This will help you reach your target audience and generate more sales at a lower cost. While social media ads tend to be a less expensive ad platform compared to PPC ads, you can also make your ads more effective by creating high-quality ads that are compelling enough to drive traffic to your website. You can also diversify your ad strategy by creating different types of ads for different social media platforms.
Don’t commit to any one social media platform.
Just as you shouldn’t overcommit to any one ad platform, you shouldn’t commit to any one social media platform. Although Facebook and Instagram have both grown to be incredibly powerful marketing platforms, you’re better off diversifying your social media efforts by committing to a few platforms. This will help you reach a wider audience and generate more sales on a smaller budget. To diversify your social media efforts, you can commit to advertising on Facebook, Instagram, and a few other platforms. You can also diversify your social media efforts by posting ads on different days, as this can help you avoid overloading one platform with ads.
Check the stability of your web hosting provider.
During economic downturns, it is essential to make sure that your website is hosted on a stable platform. Although a lot of hosting companies are reliable, you should make sure that yours is too. As my grandfather used to say…”bueno, bonito y barato….. no existe,” which roughly translates in this “Hosting” scenario into “Supreme quality & reliability, with fantastic support and the lowest prices on the market… doesn’t exist. Cutting corners with a cheap-as-chips hosting provider may sound like a fantastic way to cut overheads, but everything comes at a cost, and you do get what you pay for.
Be selective with ad partners and affiliates.
During economic downturns, you may be tempted to partner with as many ad partners and affiliates as possible, as this can help you increase your ad spend.
However, before you commit to working with additional ad partners and affiliates, ensure that they offer the highest quality ads and are reputable sources of revenue. Ad partners and affiliates that provide low-quality or unreliable ads can harm your website and customer experience. They are also less likely to generate high-quality leads for your business, which can negatively affect your bottom line. Be selective with the ad partners and affiliates you work with and only commit to working with those that are a good fit for your business.
Lay out a budget for digital marketing ads and stick to it.
During an economic downturn, it can be tempting to increase your ad spend across all of your digital marketing channels. However, this can lead to overcommitting to ads and overspending on your digital marketing campaigns. Instead, lay out a budget for your digital marketing campaigns and stick to it. If you don’t have a budget in place for digital marketing, now is an excellent time to develop one. A digital marketing budget will help you maximise your ad spend while minimising the effects of a recession on your website.
Ask yourself whether or not an ad is ROI-positive before committing.
As a general rule, you should always be looking for ways to increase your website’s conversion rate and generate more sales. However, during a period of economic downturn, it is vital to make sure that every ad you run is bringing in revenue that is greater than the costs associated with running the ad. Before you commit to any ad campaign, ask yourself if that ad is ROI-positive. If it isn’t, don’t run it.
Conclusion
A recession is a challenging time for businesses in general, and it can also be a challenging time for websites. However, if you implement the tips outlined in this article, you will help to protect your website from some of the harmful effects of a recession. This will help to maintain your website’s efficiency and effectiveness so that it can continue to drive sales and revenue for your business.
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