While it has been more than ten years since the U.S. was embroiled in a recession, it can be easy to forget the destruction it entailed. In recent months, COVID-19 has caused distress and confusion, leading many to believe we are entering another economic recession. Businesses fear slipping revenue, one of the many factors that can trigger a domino effect of economic collapse within the business landscape.
As businesses reprioritize their remaining 2020 budget, advertising and marketing are typically the first on the chopping block. This is because they’re often viewed as non-essential costs, and when times get tough, businesses pick salaries and benefits over marketing. Yet, marketing and advertising hold the key to long-term growth — it just requires creative approaches to succeed.
Here are three ways SaaS companies are positioning themselves to thrive in the current market:
1. Do More With Less
Creating a tailored message at scale can be intimidating, especially when companies consider the impact it can have on their advertising and marketing budgets. What slows down brands, however, is that they create the concept of an ad and then pass the template to other markets to replicate the design at a local level. This can create excessive duplicate work, which in turn, increases hours and costs.
Anna Luo, VP of Customer Innovation and Engagement for Jivox, believes Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO) can help brands automatically generate all types of ad formats faster than humans can manage, maximizing the customer experience through personalized ads. In a world where things are very uncertain, brands can turn to DCO to continue catering to customer needs, even with a reduced budget.
2. Implement Interactive Experiential Content
The phrases “the new normal” and “in this uncertain time” have become a part of daily conversations in both our professional and personal lives, says Ryan Brown, head of brand strategy at Ceros. While these messages are top of mind, digital marketers are struggling to cut through the noise and reach their audience.
Research from PwC found 59% of global consumers felt companies had lost touch with the human element of customer experience. In a recent article for 60 Second Marketer, Brown discusses how brands can create memorable experiences for their customers by leveraging experiential content to improve overall engagement while using visually-compelling components like graphics, interactive content and videos.
3. Utilize Emerging Critical Technologies
The current economic distress isn’t entirely preventing investors from evaluating new opportunities. Instead, they are seeking out what they think will be requisite technologies once the world emerges from the pandemic. President of Audio OOH and CSO at Vibenomics Paul Brenner recently announced a $6 million Series A funding round, with plans to use the capital to expand beyond retail stores and into essential businesses such as convenience and grocery stores. Once the pandemic abates, Vibenomics plans to continue utilizing Audio OOH within these verticals and connecting with customers in locations where they shop and are ready to spend.
For more information on how SaaS companies are responding to the current pandemic, please visit our PANBlast COVID-19 resources page.