How to find opportunities in a recession
Whilst the situation is improving in the UK, it unfortunately continues to worsen in other countries. I wonder which startups during these challenging times will add the most value to their business (and using what hacks) — hopefully in the trail of destruction left in the business world, and especially for startups, something positive will have come of this. What happens when we come out the other side? And what strategies and opportunities will the most agile and creative startups have executed.
How we respond to the crisis will make or break our businesses. Compared with established businesses, startups are more likely to experience cutbacks as they shift gears from growth mode and start focusing on survival.
Our small businesses can survive a downturn not by burying their heads in the sand, but by looking for opportunities that lie in wait when the economic situation is bad.
Here are some nuggets on how our startups and small businesses can thrive in a recession.
Competitors focused elsewhere
In the face of a downturn, many businesses abandon their growth strategies so they can refocus on survival. During this situation, most of our competitors are more likely to pay less attention to what we’re doing to expand and grow our business.
If we don’t completely stop looking for answers to our customers’ problems despite the obvious hit we’re taking due to the recession, we’ll deliver products or services that provide better value to customers.
Easier to stand out
The knee-jerk reaction to a slump in our economy is to cut costs, initiate lay-offs, and save profits. However, this is the best time to go all the way in our pursuit of business growth and success.
Entrepreneurship requires us to cultivate a mindset of smart risk-taking. This means we should constantly assess risks and thoughtfully decide when to take action and when to refrain.
Recessions are an opportune time to increase our marketing efforts. This is the time to post those paid Facebook ads for reaching and engaging our target audience all over the world.
When we pursue well-thought-out marketing strategies in spite of the serious and ongoing threats and problems we face in a recession, we can run our businesses in ways that help them shine apart from the competition.
Cheaper advertising
We shouldn’t stop advertising in a recession. Cutting our spending on advertising could be a big mistake because it often results in a decrease in market share and sales, which further put a strain on our struggling businesses.
However, ad budget cuts may be inevitable in the face of a slump in the economy. As our ad budget that gets slashed to help save costs, we may have to ditch traditional advertising methods that require truckloads of cash and find cheaper but effective ways of promoting our brands.
Turning to the easily accessible and affordable remote marketing talent can help minimise advertising costs while maintaining and potentially increasing your market share and sales volume.
If we can up our marketing game during a downturn, we can increases sales and profits in the long run.
Every Recession Eventually Ends
The biggest challenge we encounter in a recession is that not even the most fervent of optimists can tell how long the situation will last. Having the ability to assess and analyse the situation and taking the appropriate action in a timely manner can help our businesses survive until we can start to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
Laurent has spent the best part of 20 years working with European, US, and Israeli startups across a range of sectors, helping them scale and reach stable repeatable growth. He has been fortunate to see two startups IPO, one acquisition, a couple of pivots, a few get to hypergrowth… and also one or two who didn’t make it… You can find him at Scaling Partners, on LinkedIn, and on Twitter.
