McDonald's success show value of increasing marketing spend in tough times: Manpreet Singh

Neither is the wrong thing to do, but I want to offer you a new perspective based on my experience helping business owners market through the pandemic, supply chain issues and now the cost of living crisis.

It’s inevitable for some consumers to feel the pinch and cut back on non-essential spending, but if you pull back on marketing, are you shooting yourself in the foot?

I’ve spoken to many business owners about this subject, and it’s a real mixed bag.

Small business owners, in particular, are feeling the strain with shrinking margins and budgets.

Increasing costs of premises, wages, and bills are a particular concern, and the knock-on effect is that a business will likely have to increase the costs of its products or services.

In 2007, Burger King and McDonald’s had similar market shares. When the recession hit, McDonald’s doubled down on their marketing, while Burger King pulled back. It’s not always as clear-cut as this, but it’s evident now that McDonald’s has the larger market share, and marketing output is likely responsible.

While I understand that reducing marketing budgets may be necessary, I don’t recommend pausing altogether because being out of sight is being out of mind. If your competitors stay consistent with their marketing while you retreat, your target customers will likely take notice. So rather than stopping altogether, look at your marketing strategy and really hone in on what’s creating real, tangible business impact.

My key advice is to focus on the customer journey and dig deeper into exploring what could help, how to retain your customers and how to help them convert. Hopefully, you’re using analytics to help guide you because the insights can be invaluable to your marketing strategy.

What picture do your website analytics paint? Are people adding your products to their basket but not going through with the purchase? And could that mean that your delivery costs are too high, or they’ve found the same product elsewhere but with free shipping?

In this case, could you offer free shipping if they spend a certain amount on site, encouraging more sales but offering something beneficial in return?

Are customers landing on your website but then only spending a few seconds there before leaving? Does this mean that your website design isn’t engaging, or there’s not enough call to action or conversion-focused content? With this issue, you could try retargeting your website visitors through social media advertising, offering a one-time discount code.

You know they’re interested in the product, but there’s something holding them back, so maybe it’s cost.

My last tip is to educate and inform your customers. Lots of customers choose your business because they see you as an expert in that area.

When you’re marketing, make sure you communicate the depth of your expertise - whether through written content, multimedia content, or speaking events - as this creates trust and is sometimes all the proof customers need to buy from you.

Manpreet Singh is CEO of Bobble Digital