What Marketing needs to do to prepare for a recession

Chance of a recession

• IMF 40%

• Goldman Sachs 45%

• JP Morgan 60%

No one can really agree on the probability for a recession.

Heck the Bank of America doesn’t “see a recession at this point.”

But just about every economist agrees that the chance of recession has gone up compared since the beginning of the year.

I am sure that executive management is adjusting their plans, forecasts and budgets.

In an economic downturn, it’s reasonable to expect that there will be some tightening of the belt across many divisions including marketing.

There are three actions marketing  needs to take now to prepare for that discussion.

1 - Look at the spend and results of all marketing campaigns including SEO, content, paid advertising, and social media. 

Not all campaigns are equal.

In times of tighter budgets you need to be able to make data driven decisions on what to cut and which to keep. 

2- For larger projects like web design, Account Based Marketing, system integrations and trade shows, they maybe are in flight and need to keep going because the stop/start costs could be prohibitive. Be prepared explain the necessity of keeping them funded.

3- if these large projects have not started, it may be a good short term decision to delay the start. But be careful not to delay them for too long. They were approved for 2025 for a good reason. Delaying too long can put your long term revenue goals at risk.

No one likes a recession.

No one likes to think about budget cuts.

But sometimes budget cuts come from the top and marketing needs to be prepared on how to respond.

Take action now to know your project portfolio, spend, and results.

You will be in a better position to defend critical projects.