From the course: Marketing during a Crisis

Shifting mindsets and goals

From the course: Marketing during a Crisis

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Shifting mindsets and goals

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- In the midst of a global crisis, marketing faces some very real challenges, the first of which is the shifting mindset of consumers. The consumer segments we have been selling into and optimizing against are no longer accurate. When bad news spreads, especially news that has a real impact on our wealth and health, we have new perspectives that change our buying behavior. To be persuaded to buy, consumers need disposable income, confidence about the future, a trust in the economy, and a value system that does not see consumption as being negative. And a crisis does not bring about these needs. What we see now is a consumer that has new priorities. We revert back to the basic building blocks that Maslow's hierarchy of needs lays out. Buyers immediately will focus on the physiological needs, food, water, sleep. And we see this play out in panic-purchasing at grocery stores because we need to know that we have this need under control. Stepping up from there is safety, and part of safety is job security and financial stability. In economic uncertainty, we'll make less impulsive purchases, and this will result in immediate drop in sales. And then we have our social needs. We are wired to be in community, so we'll reevaluate our connections with friends and family. Towards the top of the hierarchy is our esteem needs, and this can be incredibly disrupted by crisis. We lose confidence. We become uncertain. We question our achievements. Where your consumer is on the esteem scale will determine how they respond to your messaging. If you inject humor into the situation, those who remain uncertain of their health and wealth are put off, but those who are more certain, well, they might enjoy it. Right now, you need to zoom out and accept that your present marketing strategies may be absolutely ineffective because your consumer has changed. You cannot simply forge ahead. You must accept that consumer behavior has changed in ways that may be permanent.

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