As a recession hits, businesses often go into survival mode, but those who have the foresight to invest in marketing can come out of the downturn stronger and more competitive. In this blog, we'll cover the top ten marketing tactics to invest in during a recession, with actionable tips and tricks that will help you increase your brand awareness and drive lead generation.

1. Social Media Marketing

Social media is an essential marketing tool, especially during a recession. Now is the time to build your brand, who cares if your posts are not perfect, it's about finding your audience and people you might not even consider your audience. It's an affordable way to connect with your target audience, build brand awareness, and generate leads. During a recession, people are spending more time on social media, making it an ideal platform to reach them. Here are some tips for optimizing your social media marketing:

• Identify the social media platforms that your target audience is most active on, and focus your efforts there.
• Create engaging content that resonates with your audience.
• Use social media to build relationships with your audience, respond to their comments and questions promptly.
• Leverage social media advertising to reach a broader audience.

2. Video Marketing

How many have heard that video is king? Video ranks differently then words and has its own place to win the market share. We as a society engage in short form content because that is what technology has done to change the consumers behavior. Marketing and advertising is not about what you like, it is about what the consumer wants. You are not marketing to yourself. You are not your ideal customer. Video marketing is one of the most effective ways to engage your target audience. Videos are highly shareable, and they can help you communicate your message more effectively.

Here are some tips for optimizing your video marketing:

• Create high-quality videos that are interesting, informative, and entertaining.
• Keep your videos short and to the point.
• Promote your videos across all your marketing channels, including social media, email, and your website.

3. AI-Generated Content

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is revolutionizing the way businesses create content. I have been hearing a lot of chatter from marketers in the trades that you should not be using this just yet, and they are wrong. The opportunity is today, it's always been today. Learn it, understand it, and the innovate with it. The name of the game for all businesses is to be more automated and efficient. Our jobs are all replaceable, if we think in a scarcity mindset then the people talking against this are correct. If you think in an abundance mindset you will see opportunity everywhere. Your job as a marketer is to evolve your role, produce high quality content efficiently. I will write another post about the AI tools I have been leveraging and testing all along in my marketing career.  AI-generated content is  cost-effective and highly customizable.

Here are some tips for optimizing your AI-generated content:

• Use AI to create blog posts, social media posts, and email content.
• Use AI to personalize your content based on your audience's interests and preferences.
• Use AI to analyze your content's performance and make data-driven decisions.

4. Local Community Marketing

When I say go local, I mean go local. Your community is being hit the same way you are, how can you help others? Givers gain. Local community marketing is an effective way to build relationships with your target audience.

Here are some tips for optimizing your local community marketing:

• Participate in local events and sponsor local organizations.
• Build relationships with other local businesses.
• Use local influencers to promote your brand.
• Start a community strategy and bring out local businesses through your advertising efforts, co-partnerships in swag, in events, in podcasts, it's your time to bring your community to life.
• Build relationships with local journalists and editors.
• Use press releases to promote your brand.
• Participate in local talk shows and podcasts

Think about ways to advertise locally not just events, is there a bar in your hometown that gets a lot of traffic? Can you download your commercial on a firestick and have them play it, thus creating a paid advertising opportunity for the local bar and getting your companies name in front of your community?

5. Mass Media Marketing

Mass media marketing is a traditional form of marketing that can still be effective, especially during a recession.

Here are some tips for optimizing your mass media marketing:

• Use TV, radio, and print ads to reach a broader audience.
• Focus on creating memorable, attention-grabbing ads.
• Use data to optimize your ad placements and messaging.
• Find the way you can get hyper local placements that make sense, is there a OOH display you sound downtown that would be perfect for your business?Is there a sporting event that you would love to sponsor but are afraid of the costs, my suggestion would be to find the unique ways to get your name out there that aligns to your business goals.

When I was in Florida, I saw a barge billboard, now the majority of the area I was in was for tourists, however on the other side were homeowners... where could you advertise your local business to those that matter? On the other side. You can also do this in communities at local lakes. Ask more questions and see what is and isn't allowed. You will never know unless you ask.

6. SEO

Search engine optimization (SEO) is a cost-effective way to increase your website's visibility in search engine results pages. SEO is not dead, it is literally evolving right before our eyes. Who cares which AI tool gets there faster, they will all have ad placement because they will need to generate revenue in order for the platform to sustain. 

Here are some tips for optimizing your SEO:

• Conduct keyword research to identify the keywords and phrases your target audience is searching for.
• Optimize your website's content, meta tags, and structure for those keywords.
• Build high-quality backlinks to your website.
• Build local city landing pages, at this point a website is great only if it effectively gets the job done by ranking your content appropriately. By having content that is relevant to the search. If you are unable to build a website quickly, build a landing page then build a website as you need.

7. Email Marketing

Email marketing is a highly effective way to nurture leads and drive conversions and your existing clients are a goldmine waiting to be spoken to. How many contractors have you had in your home that actually follow up with you and that missed conversion? Personally, I rent and the contractors that have been coming to my home, I am just lucky if they don't wear their socks in my home. Email your customers but make sure your audience is personalized and your message is intentional for them. Mass emailing is boring and honestly an old school bad habit that needs to be broken. Advertising is about personalization and you can see this in everything that is out there.  

Here are some tips for optimizing your email marketing:

• Segment your email list based on your audience's interests and behavior.
• Use personalized content to engage your audience.
• Test different subject lines, email designs, and CTAs to optimize your email campaigns.
• Use templates, change the brand and color to your brand and color. The product that we run has personalized templates developed specifically with a marketing strategy in mind for the trades.

8. Content Marketing

Content marketing is a long-term marketing strategy that involves creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly defined audience. The goal of content marketing is to drive profitable customer action by educating, informing, and entertaining the audience. Content marketing is especially effective during a recession because it can help businesses build brand awareness, generate leads, and establish themselves as industry leaders.

Here are some actionable tips and tricks for optimizing your content marketing during a recession:

Identify Your Target Audience

The first step in creating an effective content marketing strategy is to identify your target audience. Your content should be tailored to the interests, preferences, and pain points of your target audience. By understanding your audience's needs and desires, you can create content that resonates with them and drives engagement.

Create Valuable Content

The content you create should provide value to your audience. Valuable content can be educational, informative, or entertaining. It should be relevant to your audience's interests and needs. By creating valuable content, you can build trust with your audience and establish yourself as an authority in your industry.

Leverage Different Types of Content

There are many types of content that you can use in your content marketing strategy, including blog posts, videos, infographics, podcasts, and more. Each type of content has its strengths and weaknesses, and you should use a mix of formats to engage your audience. For example, videos are highly shareable and can help you communicate your message more effectively, while blog posts can help you improve your search engine rankings and drive traffic to your website.

Promote Your Content

Creating great content is not enough; you also need to promote it effectively. Promoting your content can help you reach a wider audience and drive more traffic to your website. You can promote your content through social media, email marketing, influencer marketing, and other channels. By promoting your content, you can increase your brand awareness and generate more leads.

Measure Your Results

Measuring your content marketing results is essential to optimizing your strategy. You should track your website traffic, social media engagement, lead generation, and other metrics to determine what's working and what's not. Use the data to make data-driven decisions and iterate on your strategy. By measuring your results, you can optimize your content marketing strategy and achieve better results.

9. Agile Marketing

Agile marketing is an approach that involves testing, learning, and iterating quickly to achieve marketing goals. During a recession, it's essential to be agile and adaptable to changing market conditions. Here are some tips for optimizing your agile marketing:

• Set clear, measurable marketing goals.
• Use data to make informed decisions about your marketing strategy.
• Test and iterate quickly to optimize your campaigns.
• Embrace new marketing technologies and techniques to stay ahead of the competition.

In conclusion, investing in marketing during a recession can be a challenging but rewarding experience. By following these top nine marketing tactics home service businesses can increase their brand awareness, drive lead generation, and emerge from the downturn stronger and more competitive. Always remember to look for opportunities and test in and out of things when needed to stay ahead of the curve.