I wanted to make burgers for dinner.  I usually use eggs to bind the meat together but with all the panic buying there were no eggs left on the supermarket shelves.  Before I gave up on the meat burger dinner idea, I thought it was time to get creative with the challenge at hand: What was I going to use to bind my mince meat together? 

A friend suggested I use avocado to replace the eggs.  I admit, I was a little concerned.  I’d tried making chocolate avocado mouse before (an extremely unpopular and never repeated recipe in my house). Of course, there were plenty of avo’s on the shelf, so avocado it was!  Incredibly, it was a win win result! The kids didn’t taste the difference and dinner was a ravenous success.  

 

Away from my kitchen there are small businesses panicking.  Customers have stopped buying (apart from stocking up on essentials).  People globally have gone from a “I want” mentality to a “I need” mentality.  I no longer need that new dress or new shoes – quickly forgotten.  The new pergola or renovation you were planning is on hold…and that overseas trip…is now a dream perhaps for next year.

 

How do you keep success occurring in your business during a pandemic and economic downturn? It’s time to get creative: find those ingredients that binds you and your customers together to form a new marketing mix.  Sometimes you need to take a deeper look and think outside of the box for new ways of working or marketing.

 

For example: cafes and catering firms have been hit hard by social distancing.  Some are now offering a home/business delivery service. Travel companies, another hard hit industry.  I recently saw an accommodation company offering self-isolation packages including food and everything you’d need for the 14-day period.

 

It’s important to not give up on your business marketing especially during a time of volatility and economic downturn.

 

Now, more than ever, look at cost effective marketing measures. Know your break even points and think about your return on investment. Every business’ break even point is different and it helps to know this to work out how much marketing budget you can afford to spend for every new or existing customer.

 

Remember acquiring new customers is always more expensive than retaining your existing customer base.  Importantly, focus on retention marketing and look at ways you can work together with your customers.