Businesses Must Ideate Not Hibernate During a Crisis

Inmarsat Aviation Vice President Dominic Walters says marketing is more important in a crisis than during an economic boom, and argues that a global pandemic is time for marketing departments to ideate not hibernate, despite short-term challenges.

By Dominic Walters

COVID-19 has been a once-in-a-generation public health crisis that has triggered an unprecedented change in community and business behavior across the world. Even though economies have re-opened and cities have started to function again, the move to an online life experienced by most global citizens has become the norm in the post-pandemic world.

Sometimes, global breakthroughs in innovation, technology and humanity have been achieved in the aftermath of a crisis or in the race to win against the odds. The disruption caused by COVID-19 has most certainly been a catalyst for change and innovation, with governments and the private sector alike needing to change and rapidly solve social and economic problems. As the older generation has been forced to adapt to a more digital life, we have been suddenly faced by a new reality – our parents and even grandparents have suddenly become digital millennials – shopping, communicating, working, and learning online.

Overnight a large proportion of society, usually more comfortable going to the office, the shops, and entertaining, have been forced to become digital natives. This has meant businesses have had to react to a new digital reality with significantly greater urgency than before – but it also meant that the more digitally savvy marketers knew where to find these customers and how to engage them.

As businesses faced these new challenges many, as with so many crises of the past, they were paralyzed and unsure of which way to turn or how to reach their customers not realizing that opportunities may be sitting right in front of them. They were beginning to hibernate, which for many may have been the beginning of the end. In the world of B2B companies, they had to leave no stone unturned as they looked for cost reductions, and two areas were hit the hardest – marketing communications and R&D.

Across multiple industries, marketers faced the prospect of long-term budget cuts and resource restrictions. Marketing teams were downsized as companies realigned priorities to keep the books balanced and healthy not realizing that it was this team that could provide the lifeline to growth and even survival. Many leaders did not fully understand how important the marketing communications team was and the role they really played in good and bad times by managing or building a reputation. During the height of Covid-19 crisis many businesses ignored or forgot what Warren Buffet said:

“It takes twenty years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.”

“Never let a good crisis go to waste.” (Winston Churchill)

As any B2B marketer will know, despite the countless examples of business growth, reputation and credibility being underpinned by good marketing, marketing teams spend a large proportion of their time defending their very existence. This can be draining, so, at a time when this discipline should be central to business planning, it’s understandable that many may choose not to raise their hand to shape a strategy and plan for the new norm.

However, a quick look at the history books tells us that the survivors and beneficiaries in a crisis are often those who start planning in the midst of it and quickly adapt and pivot to changing conditions, often investing ahead of the curve.

Two studies, one by the Harvard Business Review (HBR) and one by Bain support the idea that companies that lean forward during the tough times are more likely to succeed.

HBR conducted a study “the antidote to a recession” tracking 4000+ businesses over multiple recessions concluding that the ones that performed best, manage to strike a balance in cutting operational costs while also investing in marketing and R&D.

This is further backed up by a Bain research report on ‘Recession Strategies to Take the Lead’, where the strongest companies in the last recession went on offense early, while many of their peers focused on survival and waited for the cycle to clear. They invested substantially in R&D and maintained marketing while competitors cut back.

Logic and evidence show that this is not necessarily the time to be dialing back support and investment in the discipline and skill that is in place to build and, more importantly, protect the business’s reputation. I would argue that Marketing is probably more critical and important during a crisis than in boom times. Firstly, it is the gatekeeper of an organization’s reputation – so being clear about the strength and stability of the business is priority number one. No one wants to lose customers because they incorrectly think they’ve chosen a failing or weak provider.

Secondly, Marketing is instrumental in shaping a clear path and strategy for recovery, ensuring the business is ready to accelerate with a plan. Finally, during the crisis, marketing is uniquely able to flex (in a way that product development, R&D, strategy cannot) and be agile enough to support the business to take advantage of opportunities that may arise in the short term.

So how does marketing achieve this delicate balancing act? Four key ingredients can dramatically improve your chances of success during difficult times – the ability to deliver a truly integrated strategy, establishing a flexible and agile team that sees the broader picture and knowing how to stretch every dollar. The fourth ingredient, and the hardest to achieve, is being brave and knowing when to invest to win. Bringing all of these together will help the business navigate difficult times and prepare for recovery and maybe even help the business seize new opportunities and grow while the competition is stumbling and stalling.

Advertising veteran Bruce Barton once said, “When times are good, you should advertise. When times are bad, you must advertise”. Unfortunately, this sentiment has been widely misinterpreted and hijacked by many bad marketers to defend irrational expenditure. What he meant was that spending in a downturn makes sense if the prevailing winds are with you – for example, your business is strong and stable, and your competitors are failing, leaving a whole army of customers looking for a new partner to support them.

In conclusion, a crisis is the time to ideate, be agile and integrated – not to hide under the covers and wait for the bad weather to pass. Marketers will be fundamental to any recovery – let them work their magic and guide your businesses reputation through the storms.

Ed. Featured image of writer Dominic Walters provided courtesy of Inmarsat Aviation.