An excellent case in point for the benefits of flexibility in marketing is the current COVID-19 pandemic. Up until March 2020, it was business as usual for all of our clients. Then the pandemic struck and the effect on the economy was almost instantaneous. Some of our clients had to scale back on their business while others had to shut down entirely for some time. Of course, that affected our business and marketing too. We had been taking a fairly aggressive approach to lead generation up until that point, but when the reality of the situation became clear, we had to hit pause on that. We decided to shift to a new tactic for brand building and PR – a series of webinars, which turned out to be very effective.
We were flexible with our marketing budget, so we were able to redirect our attention and efforts quickly. The ability to do this is absolutely essential in such an uncertain world. Being too rigid will lead to you being too slow or completely unable to keep up with the times and keep moving and growing when the environment changes. Flexibility doesn’t necessarily involve a complete turnaround; you will probably still keep implementing many of the same tactics you did before the change. It is more a matter of shifting your focus, changing the mix of tactics and introducing some new ones if necessary, so that your strategy remains relevant and effective in altered conditions.
