Navigating Market Slowdowns: Staying Strategic and Agile in Media Buying

Over the past 30 years, Ed Crain, President and CEO of Kingstar Media and 26-year veteran of the marketing and media industries, has seen his fair share of market slowdowns. During these downturns, brands are faced with the challenge of how to adjust their strategies in order to remain competitive and emerge successfully. The key is to remain strategic, agile and consumer-centric in their media buying decisions.

It’s important for brands to embrace a long-term perspective, as staying invested in media during slowdowns can pay dividends. In a less cluttered media space, they can capture market share from less aggressive competitors, while also taking advantage of reduced media rates. This is also the time to engage with their audience and create meaningful emotional connections, as brands that show empathy and understanding tend to create deeper bonds and maintain greater trust with their customers in the long term.

Brands should also focus on value and affordability, as messaging that works during times of prosperity isn’t likely to resonate when times are tough. Adverts should highlight cost savings, discounts and promotions that resonate with price-sensitive consumers. Additionally, digital media offers an unrivalled advantage during slowdowns, allowing brands to test and scale up or down depending on real-time metrics and tailor creative to the viewing audiences.

It’s also important for brands to re-evaluate their media mix during a slowdown, rebalancing the combination of digital, print, radio and TV, and shifting from awareness to more performance-based goals. This means testing which channels are working, where there is a response, and finding the audience where they are. Brands should also challenge agencies to come back with plans that demonstrate response and create an emotional connection that will give a return on advertising.

By adopting a mix of long-term vision, digital flexibility and value-driven choices, brands can not only navigate downturns but thrive in them. Market slowdowns can be moments of opportunity for brands, as long as they remain strategic and agile in their media buying decisions.

Originally reported by Martech: https://martech.org/how-brands-should-react-to-market-slowdowns/
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