All businesses operate in markets. When market conditions are favorable it makes life easier, we are swept up in the wave of growth, and you can get away with bad decisions here and there because ultimately demand is greater. Conversely, when market conditions are rocky even the best-laid plans can do little to turn the tide.

While we have not entered a recession, what is unquestionably true is that the wave of growth seen in digital has plateaued, and every business is having to work much harder to achieve the same – or worse – results. When you’re in the midst of a spell of growth it can feel like it’s never going to end, you become caught up in the momentum taking decisions that in hindsight can seem too ambitious. This has been most plainly seen with the layoffs in big tech – the likes of Google, Meta, and Twitter over hiring and having to adjust as a result.

Much like when times are good, when times are bad it’s easy to become lost in a carousel of negativity. In short, it can be difficult to see the light at the end of the tunnel. That is especially true for the current situation of most countries, interest rates continue to rise, inflation, whilst steadying, is still high and global events still concerning.

At this point there is a tendency in businesses to overcorrect. In much the same way that a business might overinvest when times are good, many businesses go too far in how much they cut back when they face performance challenges. This means that their overall recovery is slower than businesses that chose to take a more balanced approach.

This is not to say that businesses shouldn’t put pressure on where they are invested. Quite the opposite, challenging times are a good opportunity for businesses to assess where they should be focused. It often takes a challenging period for businesses to tackle the issues that they face and drive changes that may have been needed for some time.

Challenging times are also a hotbed for innovation. When market growth is slow businesses have to work harder to make gains. This forces companies to think outside of the box, and it’s no coincidence that so many businesses with disruptive propositions are born during challenging economic times.

The key to finding growth in tough times is knowing where you can win and being laser-focused on those areas. These opportunities often exist in the pain points of consumers, the things about a product or service that they find frustrating or wish they could change. Companies like AirBnB, Uber, and Amazon did not invent new markets, they understood the pain points consumers had in existing markets and were able to offer meaningful solutions.

It isn’t just start-ups that are able to address consumer pain points. Long-established companies can find new routes to growth by honing in on the pain points of their customers. This might mean addressing problems with customer service, finding ways to be able to offer a lower price point, or adapting a product to better meet a customer’s needs.

Once businesses have found their focus it makes every other decision easier. How should the business operate? What roles does it need? How must it upskill its staff? How should it position itself? etc. It provides the platform for a company to say “We are doing this because”, rather than “We are doing this”. In other words, it gives choices context, driving alignment and buy-in.

All of this of course sounds very logical, so it begs the question – why don’t all companies operate in this way? For many companies being able to step back and look at the big picture is a luxury. The short-term need to claw back performance means that being able to view things in the longer term is difficult.

Yet the ability to be able to take a longer-term view is critical. This is where business leaders need to be clearer on roles and responsibilities. Not every employee of a business should be focused on the immediate term, some must operate in a capacity where they are able to act in the long-term guiding the business on the steps it should be taking as the market recovers.

Operating only in the short term presents its own risks. Ultimately you may simply be pumping time and energy into a diminishing return curve that peaked some time ago. In doing this not only are you getting very little back for your increased effort, but you may also lose sight of the bigger picture, missing out on other opportunities

In digital we are entering a new landscape of opportunity. AI is going to change the game for all of us, it will make laborious tasks easier, and help us to generate insights in a few minutes that might have previously taken a few months. Businesses have a remarkable opportunity to innovate, with boundless applications of AI in marketing alone.

There will be many other innovations along the way. Revolutions in how we travel, how products are manufactured and medical science are all within touching distance. It would be a shame for businesses to miss out on these because they were overly focused on chasing a quarterly profit target.

Where we do have control over our destiny is where we chose to play. While we can’t change the fortunes of the markets that we currently operate in, what we can do is increase our share of that market by offering a new solution that speaks to customer pain points or leveraging innovation to offer something our competitors can’t.

Want to learn more about AI, Automation and how to creatively approach volatility within the digital marketing space? Watch our latest Global event, The Art of Chaos, where we discussed how to make the most of your marketing, how to accept uncertainty, and how to survive, and thrive, in times of uncertainty. 

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