This blog post is written by Kathy Floam-Greenspan and appears on the Forbes Agency Council. You can read the full post here.
Economic uncertainty, like the laws of physics, is an inevitable part of a company’s life cycle. What goes up will, at some point, come back down.
For many business leaders, economic uncertainty seems to be coming around a lot more often than it did before.
They may be on to something.
According to the Harvard Business Review, researchers have documented an uptick in economic uncertainty, identifying five modern crises amplifying uncertainty across various sectors. When coupled with the fact that 75% of CEOs expect declining growth in the year ahead and 40% think their company “will no longer be economically viable a decade from now,” it’s no wonder that people feel uncertain about their company’s future.
Often, a leader’s first response to uncertainty is to slash advertising and marketing budgets. For example, one 2022 survey found that 75% of respondents said that “signals of economic downturn” impact their media budget decisions, and 30% plan to cut their budgets in 2023.
However, leaders should be careful not to react too quickly. Nielsen notes that, historically, 75% of recessions last less than a year, and 30% last just two quarters. Economic uncertainty is cyclical, and every down cycle brings challenges and opportunities that will determine a brand’s potential moving forward.
Why does marketing during times of uncertainty matter?
Marketing through uncertainty requires a disciplined, data-driven resolve to maximize the most important outcomes.
For starters, leaders must leverage historical insights to determine potential impact. During the Great Recession, 63% of brands that increased their marketing investment saw positive ROI from their efforts.
What’s more, as Nielsen reports, “Considering most brands are already under-spending—depressing their ROIs by a median of 50%—any additional cutting of media expenses could only serve to reduce ROI further, at a time when brands need to maximize profits most.”
Meanwhile, when brands prioritize marketing spending, they continue to work toward critical outcomes, including:
- Maintaining brand visibility and staying top-of-mind.
- Building and strengthening customer relationships.
- Capitalizing on competitors’ reduced marketing efforts.
- Adapting to changing consumer behavior and preferences.
Economic uncertainty doesn’t necessarily indicate an imminent downturn, but even when times get tough, companies can still thrive, and the right marketing strategies can help make that possible…
5 Ways To Improve Your Website Performance Without Starting Over
/in Featured, Marketing, Strategic Marketing, Web Design, Web StrategyThis blog post is written by Kathy Floam-Greenspan and appears on the Forbes Agency Council. You can read the full post here.
In today’s digital-first world, brands must have an attractive and engaging online presence to remain compelling, competitive and convincing. In other words, whether you’re a small business or a major corporation, you need a website—a good one.
According to a consumer survey, nearly three-quarters of respondents said a company’s website carries at least “some influence” over their buying decisions. Additionally, a Gartner sales survey found that 83% of B2B buyers prefer purchasing through digital commerce, underscoring the centrality of a brand’s website as part of a holistic sales strategy.
However, time constraints, finite resources and limited expertise prevent many companies from putting their best digital foot forward, making an outdated and unfocused website the brand’s first—and often only—impression.
Fortunately, improving your website doesn’t necessarily require an expensive, ground-up rebuild to cultivate success. Making tangible improvements that account for common website pain points can help brands enhance their online presence without starting from scratch.
Common Website Pain Points
There are more than 1.13 billion websites worldwide, and while just over 200 million are actively managed and maintained, differentiating your website from the competition can be extremely difficult. With the average visitor forming an opinion about a website in less than one second, brands have a very limited opportunity to capture their audiences. However, many websites fail to achieve their goals because they are:
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4 Strategies for Marketing During Times of Uncertainty
/in Featured, Marketing, Strategic MarketingThis blog post is written by Kathy Floam-Greenspan and appears on the Forbes Agency Council. You can read the full post here.
Economic uncertainty, like the laws of physics, is an inevitable part of a company’s life cycle. What goes up will, at some point, come back down.
For many business leaders, economic uncertainty seems to be coming around a lot more often than it did before.
They may be on to something.
According to the Harvard Business Review, researchers have documented an uptick in economic uncertainty, identifying five modern crises amplifying uncertainty across various sectors. When coupled with the fact that 75% of CEOs expect declining growth in the year ahead and 40% think their company “will no longer be economically viable a decade from now,” it’s no wonder that people feel uncertain about their company’s future.
Often, a leader’s first response to uncertainty is to slash advertising and marketing budgets. For example, one 2022 survey found that 75% of respondents said that “signals of economic downturn” impact their media budget decisions, and 30% plan to cut their budgets in 2023.
However, leaders should be careful not to react too quickly. Nielsen notes that, historically, 75% of recessions last less than a year, and 30% last just two quarters. Economic uncertainty is cyclical, and every down cycle brings challenges and opportunities that will determine a brand’s potential moving forward.
Why does marketing during times of uncertainty matter?
Marketing through uncertainty requires a disciplined, data-driven resolve to maximize the most important outcomes.
For starters, leaders must leverage historical insights to determine potential impact. During the Great Recession, 63% of brands that increased their marketing investment saw positive ROI from their efforts.
What’s more, as Nielsen reports, “Considering most brands are already under-spending—depressing their ROIs by a median of 50%—any additional cutting of media expenses could only serve to reduce ROI further, at a time when brands need to maximize profits most.”
Meanwhile, when brands prioritize marketing spending, they continue to work toward critical outcomes, including:
Economic uncertainty doesn’t necessarily indicate an imminent downturn, but even when times get tough, companies can still thrive, and the right marketing strategies can help make that possible…
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5 Marketing Activities B2Bs Should Employ During A Recession
/in Featured, Marketing, Strategic MarketingThis blog post is written by Kathy Floam-Greenspan and appears on the Forbes Agency Council. You can read the full post here.
Recessions are defined by reduced spending. First, consumers shell out less money, lowering business revenues and forcing them to behave similarly by cutting costs, shedding staff or both. This cycle can continue unabated until spending picks up and economic expansion resumes.
Faced with an economic downturn, many companies’ knee-jerk reaction is to cut marketing spending to conserve resources and lower spending. As a result of the 2008 Great Recession, ad spending dropped by 13%, a fad that I hear many brands expect to follow in 2023. This is a mistake. Reactionary marketing cuts are shortsighted and are not backed by empirical evidence.
In fact, as VentureBeat notes, “many research studies have confirmed that the best strategy is to continue marketing—and often increase investments—during a slowdown to capitalize on long-term ROI.”
According to research, 60% of companies that cut TV ad spending during the Great Recession experienced a 24% decrease in brand use and a 28% decrease in brand image. Additionally, an extensive analysis of 600 companies from 1980-1985 discovered that companies that maintained or increased their marketing during the recession amplified their sales when the economy recovered, outpacing companies that stopped marketing by 256%.
When budgets are limited or economic factors feel bleak, focusing on “recession-proof” B2B marketing activities can mitigate risks while maximizing ROI.
Here are five recession-proof B2B marketing activities that can help companies advance their bottom-line objectives in any economic environment…
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Combining Teams Post-Merger & Acquisition: Why A “We First” Mindset Matters
/in Featured, Marketing, Strategic MarketingThis blog post is written by Kathy Floam-Greenspan and appears on the Forbes Agency Council. You can read the full post here.
Mergers and acquisitions (M&As) can be a significant business opportunity, but they can also be corrosive to company culture, causing people to leave when expertise and stability matter most.
Before the recent pandemic and the accompanying “great resignation,” an EY report found that nearly half of a company’s key employees depart within a year of a merger or acquisition, and 75% leave within three years of a transaction. This reality is even more prevalent today as employees are increasingly willing to quit their jobs in search of better opportunities.
Since M&As can create significant organizational anxiety and swift cultural change, it’s unsurprising that turnover often accompanies the process. While employees change jobs for many reasons, company culture is often one of the most common reasons.
That’s why businesses need a “we first” mindset when combining teams post-merger and acquisition. Here are four ways leaders can begin creating that dynamic now:
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Best Practices For Culture Marketing Following Mergers And Acquisitions
/in Featured, Marketing, Strategic MarketingThis blog post is written by Kathy Floam-Greenspan and appears on the Forbes Agency Council. You can read the full post here.
Mergers and acquisitions have been occurring at a rapid pace for the past several years, setting records as companies look to generate value, acquire new technologies or unlock market access.
Despite their prominence and popularity, many M&As fail to achieve their desired outcome. According to one study, only 17% of the mergers studied had added value, 30% made “no discernible difference,” and a shocking 53% actually diminished value.
While M&As miss the mark for many reasons, a recent Deloitte report found that culture was the cause of 30% of failed integrations. Consequently, business leaders need to consider cultural impact alongside other factors to help ensure that the M&A process produces the intended outcome.
What Is Company Culture?
Unlike many business elements, company culture can be difficult to define and even more challenging to measure. In general, company culture is a nebulous combination of shared values, priorities, goals, attitudes and norms. In other words, a company is defined by what it produces, but company culture is derived from how that outcome is accomplished.
It’s vitally important to employees. In a Glassdoor survey, more than half of respondents indicated that company culture was more important than salary, and 77% evaluate a company’s culture before applying for a job.
With employees valuing company culture so highly, it’s obvious that disrupting (or destroying) an established culture with a merger or acquisition can be detrimental to an organization’s long-term success.
Best Practices For Culture Marketing Post-M&A
Following best practices for culture marketing post-M&A can help leaders alleviate employees’ concerns while cultivating a more dynamic, sustainable and supportive culture moving forward. Based on our agency’s experience in helping clients with their M&A marketing efforts, here are some of the best practices we’ve found to be effective time and time again:
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Strategic Brand Consolidation Plans: How B2Bs Can Guide Effective Mergers & Acquisitions
/in Featured, Marketing, Strategic MarketingThis blog post is written by Kathy Floam-Greenspan and appears on the Forbes Agency Council. You can read the full post here.
A company’s brand is its most valuable and important asset. Regardless of sector, product offering or customer base, this intangible resource separates successful businesses from the competition. In the B2B sector, which requires prolonged sales cycles for enterprises to become recurring customers, long-standing brand value is especially critical.
It may not be reflected on its balance sheet, but a company’s brand brings immense value to a merger or acquisition (M&A). As a recent Deloitte report succinctly explains, “The value of a strong brand cannot be underestimated in today’s fast-moving commercial environments, where customer loyalty is notoriously difficult to acquire and sustain.”
Consequently, B2B brand consolidation is a critical—if often overlooked—component of an effective merger or acquisition.
With M&As accelerating in today’s disruptive, high-stakes B2B landscape, companies must maximize value and opportunity from the process, requiring a strategic brand consolidation plan that produces needed results.
Here are three ways companies can implement a strategic brand consolidation plan from day one:
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How to Master M&A Marketing
/in Featured, Marketing, Strategic MarketingThis blog post is written by Kathy Floam-Greenspan and appears on the Forbes Agency Council. You can read the full post here.
The merger and acquisition (M&A) process can be an exciting opportunity to grow a business and expand opportunities. They are also incredibly popular: M&A activity soared in 2021, reaching near-historic highs and surpassing $3.6 trillion in total value exchanged.
Despite inflationary headwinds, rising interest rates and fresh economic uncertainty, this year more than half of business leaders say they are looking to M&A deals to diversify their commercial portfolios, while 60% are considering M&A opportunities to expand access to new products, services and technologies.
While M&As are a common way for companies to expand their reach, capabilities and market share, the process can be challenging, fraught with conflicts and decisions that must be considered to make the process a success.
Marketing is a significant part of that equation, supporting organizations and facilitating communications throughout the process. For leaders looking to maximize the impact of a merger or acquisition, here are five crucial best practices to consolidate brands, unite employees and safeguard customer trust…
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Five Factors Of Effective Content Marketing
/in Featured, Marketing, Strategic MarketingThis blog post is written by Kathy Floam-Greenspan and appears on the Forbes Agency Council. You can read the full post here.
In 2022, effective marketing and content creation are inextricably linked. It’s one of the best ways to regularly connect with your audience while boosting your reputation and credibility.
The Content Marketing Institute helpfully defines content marketing as “a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience — and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”
In today’s digital-first consumer ecosystem, it’s increasingly important to generate content for potential and recurring buyers. Consider that 54% of B2B decision-makers report spending more than one hour reviewing thought leadership content each week. Meanwhile, nearly half of buyers view three to five pieces of content before initiating a sales process, and 96% of B2B buyers review thought leadership before making a purchase. Overall, nearly 50% of companies plan to grow their content teams this year, with recruitment for content creators, content marketing managers and content strategies leading the way.
Of course, more content is being generated than ever before, making it more difficult for brands to break through the noise and reach their target audience. Here are five factors that can help companies reach their audience with greater frequency and effectiveness.
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5 Must-Keep New Year’s Resolutions For B2B Marketers
/in Featured, Marketing, Strategic MarketingThis blog post is written by Kathy Floam-Greenspan and appears on the Forbes Agency Council. You can read the full post here.
Another new year has begun, which means it’s time to make some promises and institute some changes. But not the kind of resolutions that we vow to keep on New Year’s Eve and then abandon days later. We need some substantive, tangible resolutions to help us thrive personally and professionally in 2022.
This is especially true when it comes to our marketing efforts. B2B marketing must continually evolve to capture mind share, generate leads and convert sales in an increasingly loud and crowded online ecosystem.
We can’t just keep doing the same things expecting ever more effective results to follow. But where should we begin? With limited marketing budgets and endless roads to follow, what are the marketing tactics we can’t ignore in the year ahead?
To help answer these questions and guide marketing efforts in the new year, here are my five must-keep marketing New Year’s resolutions for 2022:
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Why Brand Salience Is The Ultimate B2B Marketing Objective – Forbes Agency Council Post
/in Featured, Marketing, Strategic MarketingThis blog post is written by Kathy Floam-Greenspan and appears on the Forbes Agency Council. You can read the full post here.
In today’s crowded online ecosystem, highly effective, breakthrough B2B marketing is more difficult to achieve than ever before. There is so much noise — so much content — that it takes sustained effort to break through.
Like trying to attract attention in a crowded room, gaining recognition, generating leads and increasing sales don’t happen by accident. As a result, effective B2B marketing campaigns take longer and are more involved than we often expect or believe.
This common misconception often keeps B2B SMBs from crafting appropriate target personas that generate new leads.
That’s not to say that B2B marketing is ineffective. According to one report, 60% of always-on, sustained marketing programs are successful. Instead, we need to reorient our thinking about B2B marketing. Embracing the right mindset and pursuing the right outcomes can make marketing campaigns a success.
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