Trusted Regina Blog | October 2016

If you haven’t noticed yet you may soon start to see some changes in local consumer behaviour. We have had recently a lot more companies calling us because the market is slowing for them and they now need to do something. Additionally, in the news the last couple of days there have been a couple of announcements (Dept. of Finance announcement for Mortgages and Carbon Tax announcement etc,) that have consumers more worried about their spending than we have seen in recent years. Building and maintaining strong brands—ones that customers recognize and trust—remains one of the best ways to reduce business risk.

We have put together some information to help you curb some of what we are seeing in other businesses’ experiences to help you stand out and keep your business strong.

The wave of bad economic news is eroding confidence and buying power, driving consumers to adjust their behaviour in fundamental and perhaps permanent ways.

Understanding your consumer and how their behaviour changes with the market is key. The first step in responding must be to understand the new customer segments that emerge. Marketers typically segment according to demographics (“over 40,” say, or “new parent” or “middle income”) or lifestyle (“traditionalist” or “going green”). In a slow economy, such segmentation may be less relevant than a psychological segmentation that takes into consideration consumers’ emotional reactions to the economic environment.

Below is a graph of 4 different consumer types and how they behave in a stable market, mixed market and a declining market.

Concentrate your marketing resources on maintaining relevance to core customers in order to sustain brands through the downturn and into the recovery.

a. It’s more important than ever to remember that loyal customers are the primary, enduring source of cash flow and organic growth. Marketing isn’t optional—it’s a “good cost,” essential to bringing in revenues from these key customers and others.

b. A great way to do this is via Facebook. People who are already loyal to your brand already “like” your page and aren’t shy about sharing good information you put out. Encouraging sharing information about being Trusted builds more loyalty and grows new consumers in an uncertain market.

c. Ensure you are maintaining a good number of posts on your Facebook page so you don’t loose top of mind with your loyal consumers. See below for information on how to tailor your social media.

Tailoring your tactics.

During downturns, marketers must balance efforts to pare costs and shore up short-term sales against investments in long-term brand health. Streamlining product portfolios, improving affordability, and bolstering trust are three effective ways of meeting these goals.

Information gathered from Harvard Business review Article -How to Market in a Downturn by John Quelch and Katherine E. Jocz FROM THE APRIL 2009 ISSUE

I hope you have found this information helpful! We would love to meet with you to discuss some go-forward strategies if you are stuck for ideas or have questions contact us.