In February 2024 the UK entered a recession after a more severe-than-expected drop in GDP (source). According to some sources the country actually fell into a recession in the later half of 2023. Meanwhile the rest of Europe narrowly avoided a recession at the end of 2023 or perhaps entered a short, shallow recession, depending on the sources you look at.
Regardless of the official definition, within B2B and especially sectors like technology and SaaS - it has certainly felt like businesses are tightening their belts, with mass lay-offs and budget cuts.
One area where businesses look to make savings is in their marketing budget. And because the results of SEO are not felt immediately, this particular channel is often first in line for cuts.
This article examines whether you should invest in SEO during a recession, where you can make savings and in which areas it is unacceptable and perilous to cut corners.
But first, let’s think about how the behaviour of your potential customers might change during an economic downturn. After all, you should always look at your marketing decisions through the lens of your end buyer.
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During an economic downturn, businesses will more intensely scrutinise their existing supplier services. Tools and products that are only seen as a “nice to have” will quickly be cut and probably see an uptick in their overall churn rates.
“Businesses will need to do more with less, double down on efficiency and effectiveness, and optimise resources, especially from a people and budget perspective.” - Rosalyn Santa Elena, Founds and CRO, The Rev Ops Collective
As for buying new B2B products and services, buyers will be under pressure from the C-Suite to ensure any new purchases will provide a healthy ROI to the business. Testimonials and statistics-backed case studies become critical resources in your marketing arsenal.
Scrutiny on spend may also mean departments like finance become more heavily involved in the decision making process, which could lengthen sales cycles - particularly if you sell a high-ticket product.
During a recession, brand trust becomes even more important for B2B buyers. They need to see that you are an authority in your field, with proven results, as well as tried-and-tested processes in place for post-purchase journeys like implementation and onboarding, so they can see an ROI as soon as possible.
Marketing tactics that broadly sit under the umbrella term of Search Engine Optimisation (SEO), such as a solid content strategy, support these needs.
Being visible in search engines at the precise moment B2B buyers are searching how to resolve a pain point is invaluable. It gives your business the opportunity to build authority and brand trust directly with the buyer.
Any leads or inquiries generated organically are likely to be warmer and more commercially viable that someone who, for example, clicked on an advert whilst scrolling their social media feed (although paid advertising certainly has a place in the marketing mix).
In short, yes.
And successful businesses know it.
In 2023, 80% of CMOs said they were maintaining or increasing their SEO budget.
Interest in SEO services have gone from strength-to-strength over the past 10 years, as demonstrated by the Google Trends charts below.
Although SEO is sometimes seen as time-consuming and slow to bear fruit, making cuts during a downturn is taking money off the table further down the line.
It’s true that actions like optimising your website for performance or executing a solid content strategy can take many months to see results, especially if you are a small business or startup.
But if the work you do now pays off in 12 months your fear of today’s circumstances could greatly impact tomorrow's success.
“Backlinko’s research shows that the top result in Google’s organic search results has an average click-through rate (CTR) of 27.6%, compared to the much lower CTR of 3.17% on paid search ads, according to WordStream data. Clearly, optimising your site for organic search is critical for drawing in website traffic.” - Source
Businesses who double down on well-considered SEO investment during tough times come out on top when there is an economic upturn.
Those who greatly reduce spend often find themselves with less traffic, less leads and less sales 12 months later, extending the downward spiral they are in post-recession.
.That’s not to say there aren’t ways to tighten the belt.
Read on to discover effective ways to streamline your SEO budget in 2024, as well as areas where cutting costs could be at your business’ peril.
The greatest consistent cost in your SEO budget is likely to be for content creation. A regular schedule of relevant and helpful content that solves ICP pain points is critical, but there are ways to reduce the costs.
It is far easier to improve rankings for a solid existing piece of content than a new one. Take stock of your previous content marketing efforts and where they are currently ranking. Identify low-hanging fruit and seek to add more value to the respective posts (especially if they have become dated).
If you have lots of old content that receives no organic traffic, you may want to consider either merging it with other content, re-writing it or deleting it (if it doesn’t make sense to do either of the former).
If it has cost-saving benefits, you will be surprised how many decision makers within your business will volunteer to contribute to the company blog. The C-Suite of B2B companies in areas like SaaS are also quite likely to be experts within the industry you are marketing to, so put them to work! Showcasing their knowledge to your end buyer is a great way to build authority and brand trust.
Learn how the business hub leveraged a limited budget to grow their organic traffic 85% YOY. Read Now.
Think about using data and quotes from 3rd parties to build your own dedicated statistics blog post. Or, even better, survey your existing clients and create one based on your own data. Make sure anything you output adds value to the original data! This type of content also makes a great downloadable lead magnet that can be pushed as a compelling call-to-action throughout your blog.
Think about ways you can help your end buyer make a decision. In SaaS, this could be producing “battlecards” that pit your product’s feature against that of a competitor (and of course you can ensure you highlight your USPs)
If your website is not technically sound, the impact of even the most excellent content strategy will be diminished. Maximise your ROI and audit your website for glaring technical issues.
The capabilities for generative AI are vast, but often misunderstood. Here are some areas where AI can help you save time and money:
As a stand-alone writing tool, AI has a long way to go. But perhaps with excellent and specific prompting and human intervention (to ensure search intent is aligned) you can streamline content creation.
That said, the AI content writing market is completely oversaturated, use your common sense. Paid solutions will have a higher quality output, but fact checking, readability and brand voice are still critical.
Now let’s have a look at areas of SEO where tightening the purse strings is more likely to be at the expense of your business in the long-term.
Without a solid framework that informs your decision making you risk wasting time and financial resources on actions that do not align with your business goals. You may also already have assets that can be repurposed to save costs.
A digital marketing or SEO strategist with many years of experience is likely to have seen businesses through tough times before, and know where cost can be minimised without hurting your long term prospects. A solid content strategy will also give you a pipeline of content ideas that you can dip into for the next 12 months.
Although some of the strategies above will help you maximise the content budget you have, it is still extremely critical that your business in outputting high-quality resources that help your audience address pain points at various stages of the buying cycle.
You should see content as your flagship resource - it will often be the first time your prospects see your brand, so make a good impression and don’t be a cheapskate. Hire a proficient and experienced content writer, preferably who specialises in your industry.
Although the promise of a website audit and fix for £3.50 on Fivver might be tempting, remember that this individual will have access to the backend of your website and will be implementing changes that if done incorrectly could have a detrimental effect.
SEO is a mystifying field for a lot of business owners and even non-technical CMOs. It is also fast-moving - so being able to call on a seasoned expert when you need help planning your strategy can be worth its weight in gold.
As a digital marketing consultant with over a decade of experience in industries like Saas, Biotechnology, life sciences and publishing - I’ve driven results for B2B organisations in a variety of economic circumstances.
To learn more take a look at my dedicated page on SEO services or book a free digital marketing consultation with me.