Can Your Agency Drive Growth During an Economic Storm?
Boards, C-Suites and Marketing teams should be asking themselves “can my partner agency navigate us through a hurricane?”, “were they able to identify hurricanes before they hit?”, “have they been successful at navigating clients through hurricanes in the past?”
Our team of performance experts at @DigitalAmplification has not only successfully navigated clients through storms in the past, we also have a proven playbook that flips the paradigm from “risk of disruption” to being a successful Disruptor.
When storms of great magnitude hit the market it changes the entire consumer purchasing dynamic, specifically:
- How people prioritize their wants and needs, as well as solutions
- How people make buying decisions
- When people can afford to make a purchase (or not)
- What channel they choose to make the purchase in
How you respond to the changing needs of your market and anticipate the moves of the competition will dictate whether you are disrupted or are the disruptor.
If you have the right agency partner, they should be proactively reassessing plans with you…NOW! If not, these are warning signs that you need to have a conversation with an expert partner ASAP.
- Does your agency assume that the plan based on yesterday’s success will navigate you through tomorrow’s storm?
- Is your agency dropping tiered soundbites like “you have to spend money to make money”?
- Can your agency drive client growth in declining markets?
- Does your agency assume that the plan that navigated the economic trials caused by COVID, will also protect against the next financial disruption?
- Or worst of all, is your agency simply spending money until they get direction from their clients?
How does an expert partner work with clients to not only navigate but capitalize on disruptions? Here are some highlights from Digital Amplification teams’ collective experience:
In the mid 2000’s, members of the Digital Amplification team were part of the launch of a new brand targeted at millennials. This launch coincided with a mild recession that created significant challenges for millennial college graduates looking for a job. A new customer strategy was implemented to accelerate product trial among potential customers to overcome purchasing hesitancy. By the time the recession had subsided, this new brand had won a place in the hearts of millennials. Ultimately, this brand was not only the category leader among millennials but became one of the top overall brands for millennials.
In early 2008, members of the Digital Amplification team identified the signs of economic disruption months ahead of the president addressing the nation about the “Next Great Depression”. These findings were escalated through the c-suite and board (resulting in the implementation of a major pivot in customer strategy). This pivot enabled the company to protect its customer base and grow market share during the economic crisis. Ultimately allowing them to be one of the first companies to IPO after the end of the economic crisis.
In early 2020, members of the Digital Amplification team once again identified similar disruption trends around COVID 4-6 weeks before the discussion of lockdowns. Again, the findings were escalated through the c-suites and to the boards. Continuing to be proactive provided clients time to make major pivots to customer strategy, investment plans and to rework creative campaigns to be relevant in a pandemic world. These moves caught competitors completely off-guard. Our clients had major wins including record sales, increased US household penetration, and growth in market share.
As Jamie Dimon put it, While conditions seem “fine” at the moment, nobody knows if the hurricane is “a minor one or Superstorm Sandy,” “You’d better brace yourself,”.
Digital Amplification actively works with current clients to anticipate opportunities based on what may come next. We are happy to connect if you have any doubts as to whether your business is prepared to weather a storm.