🛠️ Anti-crisis marketing: how to increase sales during a crisis 📊

Anti- crisis marketing is a search for hidden market opportunities that can be realized very quickly. These opportunities exist in any market, but under normal conditions, when everything is good, they are ignored, and ignored on purpose, leaving for a rainy day. Not everyone knows about the presence of such a nuance as hidden market opportunities, only very advanced marketers. They know and remain silent, because knowledge of this nuance gives all the cards in hand to slow down and even stop the decline of the market as a whole or just their segment.

Knowing this nuance with a competent approach, you can even ensure market growth, despite many crisis phenomena in the economy. For example, let's take the underwear market, the volume of which is estimated at 6 billion US dollars based on sales volume. In fact, 6 billion US dollars is not the market volume, but the volume of what they were able to sell. If you calculate the market volume based on needs, it will be about 32.4 billion US dollars.

The information provided allows us to conclude that the real volume of the underwear market, calculated based on needs, is more than 5 times larger than the volume of the underwear market, calculated based on sales volumes. Knowing the sales volume and the market volume based on needs, we can easily calculate the volume of hidden market opportunities, and any market has them.

Anti-crisis marketing in action

For example, the hidden potential for the lingerie market is about $27 billion! How can this be? When calculating the market size based on sales, only what is sold is taken into account. When calculating based on needs, not only what is sold is taken into account, but also what is not sold but could be sold under certain circumstances.

What kind of circumstances are these? It's simple, the point is that underwear is sold only if it meets real needs. If it does not meet real needs, it is not sold, but the need for underwear remains, just as unsold underwear remains in the warehouse for an indefinite period of time. Offering something that meets real needs is anti-crisis marketing.

Let's consider the situation. A girl really wants to buy sexy lingerie of an expensive brand, and original, not a copy or a fake, of a specific color from a specific material, a specific style, a specific cut, to raise her self-esteem. She has a strictly defined need that will be satisfied only if she finds and buys exactly the lingerie, the image of which was generated in her mind.

The principle of anti-crisis marketing

The girl starts looking for this particular underwear. She goes to all the stores, looks through all the online stores, goes to the markets. In general, she studies all the possible places where the underwear she needs might be. This continues for several weeks, but she does not find what she needs. There are no sales, but the need, that is, the need remains, the girl wants this underwear as she wanted, but it is nowhere to be found. If such underwear is offered to her, she is guaranteed to buy it.

Why does a girl want to buy strictly specific underwear and will only buy it? Why does a girl want to buy strictly specific underwear and will only buy it? The whole point is that she has a strictly defined need and it is this need, and not some other, that she wants to satisfy. Perhaps it was created by viral marketing. Moreover, it is necessary to understand that any need has a specific reason for it – each need is formed under the influence of a strictly defined idea.

The idea is implanted in a person, turns him into a consumer and motivates him to buy something that will allow this idea to be realized. This means that the girl wanted to buy specific underwear not just like that, not for the sake of the underwear itself, but wanted to realize a specific idea through underwear, but could not, because she did not find underwear that corresponds to this idea.

Anti-crisis marketing produces results

As the research results have shown, on average, each buyer of underwear has up to 6 unmet needs in underwear. The buyer cannot satisfy them because he cannot find underwear to implement the ideas implemented in it. Underwear is offered a lot, a lot, but only every 7th set of underwear meets the real need. All other underwear does not meet the real needs and therefore does not sell.

It is from such situations, when the consumer of underwear cannot find the underwear he needs, that the volume of the underwear market is formed in the amount of 32.4 billion US dollars. This amount is the hidden market opportunities that anti-crisis marketing allows to realize. Consumers want to buy underwear, have money for it, but cannot find what they need and postpone the purchase.

Why is the offered underwear not sold, how is it worse than what is sold? Because the offered underwear is not what buyers really need. After all, no one asks buyers what they need, no one asks them what they want and at what price, that is why the result is like this. In fact, they are trying to impose on buyers the underwear that is available.

Anti-crisis marketing tricks

The right approach is to offer what they need. To find out what kind of underwear consumers need, they need to be researched. To find out what exactly consumers want, you can, of course, read coffee grounds, look at the stars, throw dice, listen to your intuition, listen to old ladies at the entrance. But all this is unreliable.

As practice shows, research can provide a lot of useful and relevant information about consumers. The only reliable option is research. It should be noted that the situation described is typical not only for underwear, but for other products as well. What results will research provide, is it worth spending money on it? As practice shows, research can provide a lot of useful and relevant information about consumers.

Including, you can find out the preferred brands, color, size, price, material, types of material, reasons for purchase. You can also find out the preferred methods of purchase, as well as the time of purchase. You can find out what style customers prefer, what cut they like best, what emotions they want to experience as a result of buying underwear.

Finding opportunities to increase sales

For example, I conducted research that allowed me to determine the color preferences of underwear buyers. They showed that in 2014, the TOP-5 most popular colors included the following colors:

• white
• red
• black
• blue
• gold y

Those who bet on these colors in their activities in 2014 did not lose. Underwear of these colors had the maximum demand from consumers. Those who bet on other colors received sales volumes lower than they could have received. Lost sales volumes are the hidden opportunities of the market. As for specific figures, preferences for underwear colors based on the results of autumn 2014 are presented in the diagram below.

As can be seen from the diagram, the most preferred color in the fall of 2014 is white. At the same time, the results of the research show that there is a tendency for the preference of this color to decrease. The share of preference for blue and gold is also decreasing. In turn, black and red are gaining popularity. This means that in 2015, the TOP-5 most preferred colors may look different. It is advisable for both manufacturers and sellers of underwear to take into account the change in preference.

Anti-crisis marketing algorithm

The change of preferences may be related to the latest events in the Russian economy, i.e. there is a completely objective reason behind it. Preference for black in clothes means a lack or absence of something very important in life, as a result, a person closes himself off with black, by means of black he wants to fence himself off from reality. It also means depression, suppression, emptiness. As for red, it means the search for justice, activity, the fight for one's rights, persistence, stubbornness.

Through research, you can also build a psychological portrait of the client. Through research, you can also build a psychological portrait of the client. Knowing the psychological portrait will allow you to understand with what thoughts the consumer comes to the store. Knowing the thoughts with which the consumer comes to the store, you can speak the same language with him, thereby winning him over. As a result, using a psychological portrait increases sales volumes several times.

Another benefit of research is that it allows you to find out the algorithm by which the consumer evaluates and selects a product. This algorithm is the script for purchasing a product. Knowing the script, you can say exactly what the consumer wants to hear at every moment of communication with the seller. And most importantly, market research allows you to implement a very effective marketing strategy called LOM.

LOM Anti-Crisis Strategy

The LOM marketing strategy takes its name from three words: loyalty, optimization, motivation. The corresponding directions are implemented within the framework of this strategy. This combination leads to positive results. The first direction is increasing consumer loyalty. How to achieve this? Loyalty can only be achieved if you give the client more than he expected.

When a client gets more, then he will feel obligated and will want to “pay back the debt”. However, the trick is that the client will not take anything as a bonus, but will take only what he needs. And what does he need? You can find out by looking at the psychological portrait of the client. The most interesting thing is that it does not have to be a material value at all. In other words, loyalty can be increased without investment, without costs.

For example, you can give the right to be the first buyer of a new collection. Or offer some exclusive underwear. You can create a club and accept a buyer into this club on preferential terms. Continuing with the above example with the girl, if there is no underwear she needs, you can ask what she wants and bring it to order, but, for example, with the condition that she takes 5 or 10 sets of different underwear and makes a certain amount of prepayment. And she is happy, because she sees the attention to herself and the sellers are happy, because they have a guaranteed client even when there is no product.

Anti-crisis marketing as a chance for salvation

To maximize customer loyalty, you need to have as many options as possible that allow you to do this. There should be 100 or more moves, and it is very important that they are not repeated, otherwise their value in the eyes of buyers will be low. If the moves are repeated, buyers will see that there is no individual approach to them. This means that a loyalty enhancement program must be developed.

In the process of analysis, it may turn out that there are unnecessary duplicate business processes, the organization of which costs money. Moreover, it must be developed taking into account the purchase script, psychological portrait, desires and needs of customers, otherwise it will not work. To obtain the necessary information and build a high-quality loyalty program, market research is needed. You can build a program based on your desires and capabilities only if you are confident that your desires and needs correspond to the desires and needs of buyers.

The second direction is total business optimization. The essence of optimization is maximum orientation of business to the market and consumers. To do this, firstly, it is necessary to conduct an assessment of the business itself. To conduct an assessment of the business, it is necessary to build a detailed diagram of the business processes that are used and conduct their analysis. Why is this necessary? During the analysis, it may turn out that there are unnecessary duplicating business processes, the organization of which costs money.

Anti-crisis marketing increases business efficiency

Or it may turn out that some business processes are missing, so the business does not work at 100% of its potential. It may be that too expensive business processes are used. Business optimization is only one of the options. To increase efficiency, it is advisable to optimize the product range in order to bring it to the real needs of buyers.

It will also be useful to conduct an audit of advertising activities and optimize them based on the results. When conducting an audit, it is necessary to check how much the advertising activities correspond to the psychological portrait, purchase script, and buyers' needs.

The third direction is the creation of a system of consumer motivation to buy underwear. This system is needed because, as is well known, water does not flow under a lying stone. Consumer motivation is a very important direction, because normally no one needs anything. The need arises only under the influence of certain factors and the factors themselves rarely happen.

How Anti-Crisis Marketing Works

Sometimes there are situations when consumers are motivated independently. For example, the last underwear is torn and there is nothing else to wear. In this case, there is nothing left to do but go to the store and buy at least something. In a situation where underwear is urgently needed, the consumer will buy everything that is offered. Well, or you are invited to a birthday party and you need to buy a gift and nothing but underwear comes to mind.

In this case, the consumer goes to the store and buys what is actually offered to him. In most cases, a reason is needed. Reasons for buying underwear can be found out as a result of research and the information obtained can be used to motivate consumers. In this case, instead of the usual phrase “how can I help you”, the conversation with the consumer can begin with the phrase that corresponds to his needs.

There are many reasons and it is desirable to know as many of them as possible and have sales scripts for each case. In this case, anti-crisis marketing will be most effective. For example, one of the reasons is the birth of a child by a woman. In this case, ordinary underwear no longer quite suits her and whether you want it or not, you need to buy special underwear so that it is convenient and comfortable.

How to organize anti-crisis marketing

To sell underwear to such a buyer, you need to use not a standard script, a communication scenario, but a special one that suits this situation. Reasons can be created. For example, a buyer who comes into the store can be told that according to the weather forecast, a significant cold snap or a significant warming is expected.

For these occasions, you can offer warmer underwear or, on the contrary, the most open underwear that will help cope with the heat. Such an offer may interest the consumer, especially if it is made taking into account the purchase crypto and psychological portrait.

In general, the use of the LOM strategy will allow you to make offers to consumers of underwear that they will find difficult to refuse. Anti-crisis marketing consists of making an offer that is impossible to refuse.

The essence of anti-crisis marketing

Consumers usually refuse offers that they can refuse. The use of this strategy does not require large financial investments. The main costs are the costs of your time. But these are justified costs that will allow you to launch anti-crisis marketing and become a leader even in a crisis.

A leader is someone to whom everyone is drawn, and in a crisis this attraction increases, because in a crisis people lose their footing. To find their footing, they need a leader. A crisis is, of course, bad, but on the other hand, it dots all the i's and crosses the t's and allows leaders to strengthen their leadership.