Recessions are spiky. Downturns hurt a lot of people, but not everybody. In fact, some people even thrive. Down economies are not all down. They are filled with peaks and valleys – more valleys than peaks, of course, but not a flatland of stagnation. Finding peaks to climb is the way to thrive, not merely survive, during a recession.

Whether times are good or bad, the challenge for brand marketers is exactly the same – find peaks to climb. Here are 25 Rules For Dealing With Downturn For Business Survival during the current recession in Nigeria. Enjoy Reading.

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[size=20pt]#1 - Develop A Risk Management Plan[/size]
If you haven't already done so, create a plan for what to do in the event of a recession. This risk management plan should include a set of actions you plan to take in the event that you lose business or customers due to an economic downturn. After all, it will be easier to think of what to do before a recession than in the heat of the moment as your employees are panicking and unsure of what to do. Make sure to create concrete steps to follow and then transmit the plan to other managers or partners so that they can follow it as well.

[size=20pt]#2 - Analyze Company And Brand Health[/size]
Keep your fingers on the competitive pulse, using annual reports, tracking studies, media data, sales force intelligence, and feedback from customers and consumers. Which companies have strong financials and are well positioned to up the ante? What does their track record tell you about their likely recession strategy? Which brands are vulnerable, with customers ripe for acquisition? How does the strength of your brands compare?

Download The FREE Report: Recession Marketing - Getting Your Business Through Nigeria Recession By Joining The Facebook Nigeria Recession Survival Group at https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

[size=20pt]#3 - Anticipate Competitors Actions[/size]
Recessions are a time of flux. Now more than ever, you need to anticipate what your competition might do and plan accordingly. If everyone else cuts spending, you can gain an edge simply by maintaining your own level of investment.

Any action you take, however, is subject to a competitive reaction. Therefore, you should consider the ways competitors might respond and work through a variety of scenarios. If you make a cost-cutting move and misjudge the competitive response, you may get caught out. In 2002, Kimberly-Clark reduced the number of diapers in each package of Huggies in order to improve margins. Procter & Gamble could have followed suit, but instead they kept their pack size constant and added the word “Compare” to the label. At the same time, they increased discount coupons and store displays for Pampers, effectively spoiling the pricing power of Huggies.

Download The FREE Report: Recession Marketing - Getting Your Business Through Nigeria Recession By Joining The Facebook Nigeria Recession Survival Group at https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

[size=20pt]#4 - Concentrate On Your Core Brands And Products[/size]
Now is not the time to spread scarce resources across multiple brands or product variants. Recessions may call for urgent strategy. Concentrate your marketing muscle behind the brands that are most likely to survive, and leave the others to sink or swim.

[size=20pt]#5 - Support Your Core Proposition And Emphasize Its Value[/size]
Strong brands can support a price premium. Consumers have clear and strong associations with these brands and know what makes them desirable. Focus your marketing efforts on reinforcing what made your brand successful in the first place.

Even if your brand is relatively high priced, that high price, per se, need not be a problem as long as people believe your brand provides value for money. Most people find security in buying an established and reputable brand. What you need to do is make your brand accessible. During the Argentinean economic crisis of 2002, Unilever made it possible for people to buy the Skip laundry brand by making small packages available, which carried a low unit price. They also introduced large economy sizes that offered people a better deal.

Download The FREE Report: Recession Marketing - Getting Your Business Through Nigeria Recession By Joining The Facebook Nigeria Recession Survival Group at https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

[size=20pt]#6 - Don’t Price Promote Unless You Can Cut Costs [/size]
It is tempting to cut prices in order to retain price-sensitive shoppers, but this can be a risky strategy. If your brand offers a compelling rational or emotional advantage over the competition, people who are forced to switch to cheaper brands are likely to buy your brand again when the recession is over. But once a price premium is lost, it tends not to be regained. Frequent price promotions train loyal brand buyers to expect lower prices and to buy only on deal. Therefore, premium brands should maintain their relative price premium and seek to reframe perceptions of value. By contrast, low-price brands should emphasize their price points aggressively.

Well positioned for hard times with its ‘’Save money. Live better’’ tagline, Wal-Mart used its low cost structure and logistical advantages to keep grocery prices low during the last U.S. recession while competitors struggled with poor margins.

Many businesses turn to deals and sales when the recession is hurting them. However, doing so will only make it harder for customers to justify paying your regular prices when the recession is over. In addition, these lower prices can cut into much needed profits. The only exception is that you may want to offer one-time payment extensions or discounts to customers that are also having a hard time. Just be clear to them that you are only extending this service once.

Carry on...

[size=20pt]#7 - Don’t Cut Quality[/size]
As the pressure to find cost savings increases, companies may be tempted to cut back on the quality of their products or services. This temptation should be resisted at all costs. A successful brand is built on the bedrock of a great brand experience. A product
or service that delivers exceptional performance will keep people coming back. A reduction in quality may seem to go unnoticed for a while, but provides competitors with an opening they may later exploit.

[size=20pt]#8 - Think Internal Branding And Morale[/size]
The motivation level of employees is critical to a company’s success, particularly in service industries. Therefore, workers need to be convinced of the merits of their brand and reassured that their jobs are safe. Use internal communication to remind your staff that they make a difference.

Even if layoffs are necessary, there are steps you can take to minimize the damage. Many experts recommend investing in training for your remaining employees to demonstrate your commitment to them; surveys have found a substantial correlation between an increase in job training after layoffs and subsequent increases in profit and productivity.

[size=20pt]#9 - Cross-Train Your Employees [/size]
If you do end up letting some employees go, you will need others to step into their roles. This is why it is important to cross-train your employees for various roles within the business. This is best if done before it is needed.

Download The FREE Report: Recession Marketing - Getting Your Business Through Nigeria Recession By Joining The Facebook Nigeria Recession Survival Group at https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

[size=20pt]#10 - Focus on Your Customers[/size]
Whether the category is B2C or B2B, a brand’s biggest asset during a recession is its existing customer base. If your company is a service provider, confirm that your marketing activities are focused correctly on your most valuable, loyal, and satisfied customers.

Keep them happy and reward their loyalty. If you have contact with customers through monthly billing statements (one piece of mail you can count on people to open), use that vehicle to deliver special offers, relevant news, and information.

Make sure you are meeting your customers’ existing needs as well as you can. Use the feedback from your sales force or customer service department to keep track of changing needs. What new offers might be appealing to customers and potential customers? Consider whether there are any customers you can afford to let go. Those who are dissatisfied and who pay late in good times are unlikely to be profitable when times get tough.

[size=20pt]#11 - Review Your Consumer Segmentation[/size]
Packaged goods companies should focus on the consumer segments that are likely to offer the best returns. A shift in positioning might make the brand attractive to a more profitable target.

Unilever made such a shift with the Dove brand in Turkey, where, because it was much more expensive than regular soap, the brand was traditionally targeted at upscale women. But during the 2001 recession, a new brand team crafted a value-oriented appeal to middle-income consumers — a far larger audience — based on the proposition that Dove both cleans and moisturizes. Dove more than doubled its share of spend from 2000 to 2001, resulting in a market share gain of five percentage points by the middle of 2002.

[size=20pt]#12 - Review Your Budget Allocations[/size]
Your customers are looking to maximize their value for money. You should do the same. Think about the relative cost and effectiveness of the available media channels. You may conclude that you can’t afford to completely pass on TV, but you can extend your TV investment in less expensive media like print, radio and outdoor advertising.

Prices for traditional media may be depressed during recessions, so you may be presented with a buyer’s market. If you can buy more for less, try to lock in long-term deals. Interest in digital marketing, however, tends to be countercyclical because during bad times many marketers feel safer investing in what they believe is a readily measured medium. Therefore, the cost of digital may increase due to extra demand. But search and e-mail marketing may not provide the expected ROI without communication through broadcast media to prime interest in the category and brand.

In-store marketing traditionally thrives in downturns, and for good reason. Brand associations do not erode overnight, so even when a brand is not advertising, in-store media and signage will remind people of the brand’s promise right at the point of purchase.

[size=20pt]#13 - Make Your Creative Work Harder[/size]
In any communication channel, the best way to leverage your spend is to put it behind high-quality creative. A meta-analysis of econometric sales modeling published in Admap (February 2006) found creative to be the biggest potential multiplier of profit (other than market size). Across a wide variety of categories, brands, and channels, Paul Dyson and Karl Weaver found that creative had five times as much impact on profit as did budget allocation. Now more than ever, you need to set the bar high and leverage your media budget as effectively as possible. Test a range of solutions for each channel. Pre-testing is cheap in comparison to wasting millions on ads that fail to evoke the desired response.

[size=20pt]#14 - Don't panic [/size]
Most marketers assume that consumers cut their spending when recession bites. In fact, total consumer spending rarely falls in nominal terms -- it just grows more slowly and so fails to keep up with inflation. And some categories, such as packaged goods, tend to do well in a recession. So don't panic -- your sales may be healthier than you expect.

Download The FREE Report: Recession Marketing - Getting Your Business Through Nigeria Recession By Joining The Facebook Nigeria Recession Survival Group at https://www./NigeriaRecessionSurvival/

[size=20pt]#15 - Cut the right costs[/size]
If you do have to cut costs, make sure that you cut the right ones. An analysis by PIMS (Profit Impact of Marketing Strategy) of how over 1,000 firms have reacted to previous downturns shows that some cost-cutting strategies are more profitable than others. Firms that cut manufacturing and administrative costs tend to do well, as do firms that cut spare capacity. But firms that reduce product quality or cut budgets for marketing and NPD tend to underperform.

[size=20pt]#16 - Cutting ad spend will reduce your income[/size]
Cutting the ad budget is a quick way to cut costs, but beware there is a penalty to be paid. Research shows that firms that cut ad spend during a recession typically see sales and income fall by 20-30 percent over the next two years as a result. So any boost to the bottom line is usually small and short term.

[size=20pt]#17 - Cutting ad spend causes long-term damage[/size]
Research shows that advertising has long-term effects on sales -- up to five years after the ads are shown. So cutting advertising does long-term damage to one's business. In particular, analysis by PIMS shows that firms that cut advertising take much longer to recover when the economy begins to improve.

[size=20pt]#18 - Cutting ad spend puts your brand and company at risk[/size]
Cutting ad expenditures doesn't just depress sales and market share. Without advertising support, distribution becomes harder to maintain and the pressure to cut prices becomes harder to resist. With lower sales and lower margins, non-advertised brands often find profits spiraling down, sometimes with fatal consequences. Financial markets know all this and tend to punish the share prices of companies that cut advertising.

[size=20pt]#19 - A recession is both a threat and an opportunity[/size]
The worst-case scenario is a marketer lowers an ad budget while a competitor increases his. The literature is full of examples of brands that have perished this way. But the flip side is that a recession can be a marvelous opportunity to deal competitors a killer blow. Because media prices tend to fall much faster than sales for most firms, the ROI from advertising often increases in a recession. The combination of low media prices and weak competition gives companies a unique opportunity to buy market share on the cheap.

[size=20pt]#20 - Promotions are not the solution[/size]
When times are tough and consumers are looking for bargains, promotions may seem like the obvious solution. But beware promotions that are really just price cuts in disguise. Research shows that, for most brands, trade promotions are a mixed blessing at best. They may help to keep the retailers happy, but the extra sales they generate are purely short term and the net effect on profits is often negative. Heavy reliance on promotions tends to erode brand values and destroys profit margins.

[size=20pt]#21 - Emotions are the key to brand strength[/size]
The key to maintaining a profitable brand is not to offer discounts or buy one, get one free promos, but to build and maintain a strong emotional bond with customers. An analysis of nearly 880 case studies published by the World Advertising Research Centre shows that ad campaigns that focus on emotional engagement tend to be more profitable than ad campaigns that focus on rational messages (such as low prices or special offers), even when times are tough.

[size=20pt]#22 - Aim for fame[/size]
The same study showed that the most profitable ad campaigns of all are those that get consumers talking about the brand -- and its marketing. Word of mouth is a powerful amplifier. To get your consumers talking, you need to do something remarkable. Unfashionable as it may seem, big broadcast media still have an important role to play here. Remember that research shows that TV is still one of the most important topics of conversation there is -- second only to talking about family and friends.

[size=20pt]#23 - Harness the power of integration[/size]
Stimulating word of mouth is one way to make a budget go further. Another is to harness synergies between different marketing channels. Our research shows that the most effective campaigns mix emotionally rich, publicly consumed media like TV, direct response media like online. Getting the mix right can more than double your payback.

Awesome. Ride on