Why Strategic Brand Management assumes even more relevance during economic downturn and recession.

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This blog is part of #Brandhorizon business talks – Leading the present, Shaping the future  at http://www.brandhorizon.net/blogs

Brand drivers are bound to get  rather complex during  economic downturn and recessionary phases . This is because of the sensitivities created by the competitive landscape and market dynamics that tend to create price war and sometimes even result in cut throat competition amongst players .  This is a situation that will render customers  in a phase of introspection and critical evaluation of value for money spent before making purchase decisions . Consumer behaviour  therefore becomes unpredictable.

From a business perspective ,brands have two options in such situations. They can either be reactive and become victims of  the situation by  imposing cuts or ban on branding budgets.  This will be the worst reaction because by doing so, they are only driving themselves away from people’s minds  at a crucial and opportune time . On the other hand  Brands can be proactive and use situation  as a  great  opportunity  to their advantage. Thereby they don’t  just preserve  but enhance brand reach

Why is it so critical  to stay invested in Brand Management  during recessionary trends and downturns !
  • Products tend to become commodities  as functionality replaces blind faith in Brands 
  • Customers tend to become more price sensitive  and less Brand conscious,due to tightening   of wallets. 
  • Search engines become choice engines, so to say. This is true more so of a B2B  segment where there are multiple  purchase points across value chain. 

Here are some of the things that businesses can do right under such situations –
  •     Clearly not fall into the trap of price war but sustain prices in a range and stay distinct  as a niche player
      ·  Strengthen perceptions  on professional pricing through strategic brand positioning .
     ·  Use Business process reengineering and lean management concepts to achieve a backward integration of margins across all elements in value chain. This will help  to  make product offering more competitive  for themselves and for customers.
    ·   This is also a great opportunity to research  consumer insights more deeply and gather reliable and useful information about which  brands or products in the market are resilient and possess sustainable value These findings can then be effectively used in the  ongoing Brand strategy to achieve clear Customer Value proposition .

These are only some of the effective strategies that Brands can adopt to use the recessionary phase to their advantage .  But none of these would be possible if Branding spends do not find a place in the budget which is even more crucial during these phases.  Branding budgets are absolutely essential  even just to stay afloat and retain market share, let along increase  market share and margins. 

Businesses that can visualize the long term benefits of staying invested in Brand Management during these difficult situations would clearly  foresee the benefits that would accrue in medium and long term.  Brands that are successful in creating a lasting and consumer driven experience during difficult times  would reap benefits of that  investment through  viral marketing that would be generated in future, merely  by word of mouth .  It is important to remember that cost of regaining lost customers is always a huge  multiple of cost of  maintaining them 

At Brandhorizon, we can help you effectively utilize your limited budgets to strengthen your brands strategically, using  Consumer Insights and Customer Experience Journey. #Brandhorizon is an International Brand and Marketing Consultancy firm that offers #StrategicBrandConsultancy  . 

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