Words: Chloe Whelan
In a recessionary context, many UK and global marketers have had their budgets cut and been told to “do more with less.”
Difficult economic circumstances force marketers to pivot in terms of strategy, but they can also be an opportunity for professional growth, expert panellists agreed at FP Live! on Monday.
Harvey Smith, marketing manager at Legal & Contingency, noted that economic downturns force marketers to justify their resources, and that mightn’t be a bad thing.
“In a hard market, there is more attention on you,” he explained.
“You have to fight for what’s yours. You have to demonstrate how you’ve been successful and what you’ve done, because everyone thinks marketers just go out to lunch.”
Sven Schulz, head of branding and marketing communications at Swiss Re, said this was great practice for marketers to learn to demonstrate their worth.
“Independent of any market cycle, there’s always more pressure on budgets,” he said.
“You have to be clever in terms of showing value. What are your KPIs, how do you demonstrate value? If you speak the language of your management, stay consistent in your metrics, you can demonstrate how valuable your work really is,” Schulz said.
Martin Rouse, business development and marketing director at Chartered Insurance Institute, said marketers in non-cyclical industries may not see their budgets slashed during a downturn, but their message certainly needs to change.
“From a professional body perspective, probably 80% of what we do isn’t affected by the market cycle.
“But one area that absolutely needs to change is our thought leadership. Our partners and members expect a different message in different markets. If they’re looking for insight then our marketing and PR teams will push different content to help them, whether it be soft or hard market,” Rouse said.
The session – titled “Post-hard market marketing” was moderated by Mark Geoghegan, editor at The Voice of Insurance.