Thriving In a Downturn: 3 Recession Proof Marketing Opportunities for Consultants
You can’t escape the headlines about the pending recession or rising interest rates or layoffs. As a marketing professional, perhaps this is something that’s concerning to you and you’re wondering if digital marketing is a recession proof career. I want to share with you that I actually think this is awesome news for marketers, and I have some insight on recession proof marketing opportunities for consultants. With the right strategies and tactics, you can thrive during challenging times. In this post, I will share three strategy tips that you can use to expand your reach and increase engagement with potential clients - all while navigating through financial adversity.
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Creating Recession Proof Marketing Opportunities for Consultants
As the economy starts to go up and down it creates a lot of uncertainty in the world. For marketers, this is really, really good news. Those of us who are experienced at getting clients results are going to be in even higher demand. The way you package up your offer during a recession is very different from how you should be packaging up your offer when we are in a bull market.
Fractional Chief Marketing Officer
Fractional CMOs, or part-time Chief Marketing Officers, can benefit a wide range of businesses. Fractional CMOs are typically engaged to help small to mid-sized businesses that may not have the budget or need for a full-time CMO, but still require a senior-level marketing professional to provide strategic direction, oversee marketing initiatives, and support the company's growth objectives.
Typically, a business that is generating a couple million to approximately $20 million in revenue is ready to add a fractional CMO to their team. They are in a prime position to benefit from the expertise and oversight, along with the valuable thought partnership and leadership in their organization without having to make a multi six figure hire. Hiring a part time consultant is a fantastic value for those types of company owners because they really need help.
When the economy starts becoming uncertain, they may start to become concerned about sales or their marketing strategies. They want to have somebody in place that's a safeguard that can really guide them and help them in making sure that the marketing that they're doing in the sales processes is as effective as possible.
Business Growth Consultant
A business growth consultant helps businesses identify opportunities for growth and implement strategies to achieve that growth. The consultant may work with the business to analyze its operations, finances, marketing, and other areas to identify potential barriers to growth and opportunities for improvement. They may also help the business develop a growth plan that outlines specific goals, strategies, and tactics to achieve growth. This is very much the work I do in my business. Businesses are always looking for opportunities for growth, places where they may be leaving money on the table in their sales and marketing processes, and ways in which they might optimize what’s working so they can focus on those activities and do less of what’s not.
In my experience, this is a service many business owners are going to need because for lots of professional service firms or companies, that money isn’t going to be coming in during a recession as it would during a great economy. They are naturally going to be more hesitant and you're gonna have to work a little bit harder to be able to bring in that same revenue.
I'm finding that by putting sales processes into place, helping them implement tracking systems, and consulting with their in-house team, I’m able to help ensure they are continuing to generate that needed revenue - or sometimes even create more income for the company. The in-house team loves it because perhaps they were worried about the security of their own jobs, and now since working with a business growth consultant their role has become more effective. Of course the entrepreneur loves it, because it's not something that they have to figure out on their own anymore. So a growth consultant who can really get results for clients will be in high demand in a down economy.
Outsourced Marketing Department
The third recession proof marketing opportunity for consultants would be an outsourced marketing department. This is really interesting, because you would come in with your own vendors, maybe there are subcontracted team members, maybe their staff members of yours. And you would come in and completely replace an internal marketing department when there's layoffs because, unfortunately, marketing is often the first to go.
But this is a great opportunity for those of us who have that type of offer available. For example, if a company lays off an entire marketing department and is now saving their payroll plus benefits on those former employees (perhaps estimated at half to three-quarters of a million dollars). You now have the opportunity to come in and perform similar work for a quarter of a million dollars for you. That's an amazing offer! For that company, that's a fantastic money savings when times are tough. So having this kind of offer is an excellent opportunity.
Remember when companies get lean, you can come in with a fantastic solution that they don't necessarily have to manage at all, you can just get a sense of what they're trying to accomplish fit right into their strategic plan, and do it at a fraction of the cost of what they were spending previously. Marketing and sales that makes a difference really driving revenue for companies
Continuing to See Recession Proof Marketing Opportunities for Consultants
Many consultants find it easy to sell services, despite the fact that it's a down economy because they understand not only the value they bring with their expertise, but they also know how to package and present their offers to entrepreneurs. In my consulting certification program, Fractional Freedom, we train our consultants to always be hyper-focused on ROI. And for that reason, they find themselves in demand regardless of what's happening in the economic environment.
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