This article is the first in the Ride Your Brand Through Economic Uncertainty series on how small- to mid-sized business (SMB) owners can best leverage their brand’s value to navigate challenging and uncertain economic times.
When convincing clients and prospects to engage more with you during a time of shrinking budgets, less is more. Instead of broadening your targets, consider honing in on who needs you most and sticking to do what you do best.
When budgets tighten, many owners ask whether they should diversify their business in a recession. The impulse might be to stretch into adjacent services or offerings, but that may not be the best decision.
Promoting what you do best can be challenging enough. It takes focus, patience, and persistence. If you’re adding more items to the What We Do menu, your focus wanes, your patience is tried, and your persistence is spread as thinly as peanut butter from an almost empty jar.
Explore breaking up what you offer into more affordable pieces. Spread payments over longer terms. Lean into positioning the cost as an investment, one that will pay for itself. When we look at bills, we first see what they’re taking from our bank accounts, not what they will eventually add to it.
Trying to be all things to all people is costly. Years ago there was a restaurant in my neighborhood, which changed to meet whatever interest there was at the moment. During playoffs it was a sports bar, during Pride month, a gay bar, on St. Patrick’s Day an Irish Pub. Sadly, they did not last long because no one knew what to expect. Consistency is all important when it comes to running a business and building a brand.
Similarly, diversifying your business in a recession by approaching completely new audiences is rarely wise. Your established success was built in part on your understanding of your clients’ needs. Plus, it probably did not happen overnight. Marketing to a new audience without the proper research and prep work is an expensive, time consuming distraction. Better to focus on the needs of those you already serve.
Instead, consider approaching your core offering in different ways. Creating or re-evaluating your buyer personae might unearth some new insights that already align with what you offer.
When it comes to your business in a recession, intentionality is more important than ever. Work from a solid plan, not an “I’ll try anything at this point” approach. Small businesses with a marketing plan are 6.7 times more likely to report marketing success than those without one, according to a 2024 SimpleTexting survey.
Those are just the short-term dangers of trying to be all things to all people. The long-term damage is even greater. Research shows that businesses that stay visible during downturns are the ones buyers turn to when the economy bounces back. A consistent message is what makes them memorable.
As we shared in a recent white paper, The Uncorrelated Asset, at any given moment, only around 5% of B2B buyers in a given category are actually in-market and evaluating a purchase. The other 95% are not buying today, but they will be eventually, whether that is next quarter or in three years when a contract comes up for renewal. The question that matters is who those buyers remember, trust, and shortlist when that moment finally arrives. That memory is built well before the buying window opens, not during it, and it is built by whichever companies remained visible and understandable while their competitors went quiet.
As I’ve shared before, there was a club in Boston many years ago with this sign: “DRESS CODE: Know who you are and dress accordingly.” I can’t think of a more fitting motto for creating and protecting one’s brand.
If you’re weighing whether to diversify your business in a recession, or would like to explore more ways to update your brand strategy in a downturn, such as refining your buyer personae, you can schedule a free, 30-minute consultation with me.
See the full Ride Your Brand Through Economic Uncertainty series.
