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Tips & Guides — 22 Sep 2022

Optimizing marketing resources in times of crisis

How Can Marketing Budgets Be Optimized In Times Of Crisis?

The cost-of-living crisis has forced many consumers to adjust, cut back on spending, and rethink their habits overnight. Consequently, marketers are also facing tighter budgets as new challenges are coming.

How is the crisis impacting consumer behavior in 2022 - Affise

Part 1: How is the crisis impacting consumer behavior in 2022?

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Marketers not only have to adapt to increasingly rapid changes but also have the difficult task of helping their brands navigate the difficulties. More than ever, it’s essential to keep an eye on finances to minimize the impact of the new times. 

In this context, partner marketing is an alternative that can help business owners and digital marketers to find a balance between the budget plan and sustainable growth. Below, we have highlighted how to make the most of your budget in the face of a crisis. Let’s start.

Short-term or long-term tactics: which is better for your brand?

Under pressure at this moment, many marketers naturally react foremost by asking how they can increase sales as quickly as possible. This move is understandable and, depending on the nature of your business, can be critical.

However, changing your entire offering overnight is not ideal without first researching and understanding the market. Focusing on knowing the consumer is even more important to figure out how your business can offer solutions.

One idea is to plan a strategy to start promotions or introduce discount coupons. But, before you start a promotion, you need to develop a good tactic. After all, many offers at once can lead to a mismatch between what your brand represents and its value to your target market.

Business owners, entrepreneurs, and digital marketers need to continue to invest as much as possible in awareness and customer loyalty. Yep, even in times of crisis, it is essential to invest in customer loyalty. Once the economy is back in full swing, people will more likely remember your brand.

How to Cut Customer Acquisition Costs

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What strategies are there for continuing to invest in times of crisis?

1 –  Leveraging the power of influencers

Customers increasingly want to hear from influencers and creators before they buy or invest in a product. Consider that 35% of Generation Z who shop online have seen a vlog or influencer video before making a purchase. Thus, influencer marketing significantly contributes to the growth of interactions and purchases today.

In times of crisis, collaborating with other brands, influencers, affiliates, and content creators is a necessary strategic move. Your brand can benefit in multiple ways, such as increasing awareness among a group interested in it and testing channels and new demographics. 

Decreasing influencer marketing costs with partnerships

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2 – Adapt your strategies

According to a Deloitte survey, inflation has risen by 7%, the highest rate in 30 years. As a result, consumers feel more uncertain and think more before buying a product. In addition, the price factor again significantly influences the purchase decision, as people make more effort to save money.

Not surprisingly, digital markets will see the performance of their campaigns decline as their familiar strategies will not deliver the same results. To keep up with the current changes, you have to get into the habit of constantly reviewing your goals and adjusting them if needed.

Customers are constantly changing, and so are their habits. This directly affects your campaigns, which need to be readjusted from time to time. It also allows you to check what works and needs improvement.

3 – Pay only for results

Undoubtedly, every dollar you spend on your marketing efforts should be valued. But how are marketers supposed to do that when they see digital ad prices increasing daily?

Google has the highest cost growth, up 108%. It is followed by Facebook, up 89%. Apart from the costs, the results obtained by marketers are no longer the same, and to achieve significant returns, they need to invest more.

5 tips to optimize partner marketing spending

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Thus, optimizing marketing costs means finding new alternatives that are more strategically and sustainable. One of the ideas is to prioritize strategies where you pay once for the results, such as affiliate marketing.

Affiliates are willing to sell your product or service in exchange for commissions. These commissions can be set by you in advance. Each time an affiliate performs the desired action, they receive a commission, and you pay only for what you sell. 

4 – Run offline campaigns

After the pandemic, customers want to spend more time offline with family and friends or do outside activities. There is a growing sense of fatigue from screens and even difficulty paying attention as the number of people increases. In fact, Generation Z’s average online attention is 8 seconds. As a result, marketers need to be more creative. Ask yourself: 

  • How does your client usually spend their free time? 
  • Where is my target market located? 
  • Are they active on social networks, or do they prefer other activities?

Understanding certain questions can make you review campaigns and even stop investing in proposals that no longer make sense for your customers.

For instance, think of an eCommerce that sells wine and holds events with a certain periodicity. Instead of investing your entire budget in Instagram campaigns that will screen a broad audience, why not invest in converting the people who went to your event and connected with your brand? One way to do this is through QR code campaigns.

Explore new tracking opportunities with the Affise QR Code

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5 – Rely on data performance to know what works and what doesn’t

It’s important to make decisions based on data. Data helps to know what works, and allows you to reinforce effective strategies and discard ineffective ones. By the way, partner marketing is amazing at tracking results.

With Affise Reach, you can start a partner program smoothly, one of the best ways to get influencers and affiliates to collaborate with your brand. Additionally, you can set a commission base depending on your KPIs. This gives you more flexibility compared to traditional ways of advertising.

Creating a partnership program is an alternative to the constant price increase in the main marketing channels and improving results. Placing your brand in different channels and test strategies is way more effective when you work with partners. Thus, having a partner program increasingly presents a significant advantage over traditional methods.

To sum up

This moment reminds entrepreneurs and digital marketers to be careful in the use of their budgets. However, it is necessary to look beyond the times of crisis. How do you want your brand perceived when the scene picks up again? A strategic combination of short- and long-term goals will help you better achieve your objectives.

Even in times of crisis, brands must continue to invest appropriately and wisely to have more opportunities to stand out once things improve. In this context, partner marketing is proving increasingly effective for brands that want to continue building meaningful relationships with their customers.

If you haven't considered yet to start a partnership program, now is the time

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Affise Academy

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Affise Academy

Affise is a partner marketing platform for brands, advertisers and agencies to scale via all possible performance marketing channels. Synergy of technology and our long standing experience lets you expand your partnerships, automate every step of the campaign lifecycle and make data-driven decisions.

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