How To Recession-Proof Your Marketing (Part 2): Focus on Revenue-Driving Messaging & Offers
Your message is either making you money or costing you money. There’s no in-between.
Part 1 nailed your foundation (positioning, ICPs, systems). Now we turn the dial that actually moves cash flow: the words you say and the offers you ship. In a soft market, people don’t stop buying, they re-prioritize. They trade down, delay “nice-to-have,” and buy what feels essential, proven, and timely.
Your job is to make choosing you the obvious, low-risk decision. McKinsey’s latest consumer reads: trade-down is widespread; value seeking is the norm. (Source: McKinsey & Company)
BUYER PSYCHOLOGY IN DOWNTURNS: FRAME YOURSELF AS THE ESSENTIAL
Downturn behavior is predictable: consumers classify purchases into essentials, postponables, expendables, then spend where value feels undeniable. Your messaging should translate your offer into the essential bucket—outcome, protection, or savings—using plain, concrete language. This “essentials vs. expendables” lens is still the most useful recession framework. (Source: Harvard Business School)
What that looks like, sector by sector:
Restaurants: “Weeknight prix fixe that saves money and time” > “New menu drop.”
Med spas: “3-month maintenance to protect results” > “Treat yourself.”
Hotels: “Local reset with bundled value (late checkout + credit)” > “Exclusive experience.”
Home services (plumbers/electricians): “Prevent costly failures with same-day diagnostics” > “Upgrade your home.”
FROM VANITY TO VALUE: LEAD WITH OUTCOMES, NOT LIKES
“Get more followers” doesn’t pay the bills. Shift to commercial outcomes (bookings, consults, service calls, revenue) and make those outcomes the promise in your copy. Measurement leaders argue for prioritizing actionable metrics over vanity because what you optimize for is what you get. Use that same discipline in your messaging. (Source: ABTasty)
Keep the language tight. NN/g’s current guidance remains blunt: concise, scannable, objective copy improves task completion; newer pieces reinforce rewriting for brevity and plain language to reduce friction. In short: clarity converts. (Source: Nielsen Norman Group)
Make these swaps:
“Join our IG fam” → “Reserve your table. Prix fixe ends Friday.”
“Trusted by 5,000 homeowners” → “Most leaks fixed same-day. Book now to stop water damage.”
“We go viral.” → “43% more OpenTable reservations. Book tonight.”
OFFER ENGINEERING: URGENCY, EXCLUSIVITY, RELEVANCE (WITHOUT RACING TO THE BOTTOM)
Great offers are designed, not improvised. Three levers consistently move hesitant buyers:
Urgency (time-bound): Deadlines and time-limited bonuses push fence-sitters to act. Practical conversion rate optimization experiments show urgency mechanics can produce sizable lifts when used transparently. (Source: CXL)
Exclusivity (scarcity): Limited quantity/priority access increases perceived value; pairing scarcity with urgency performs best. (Source: Invesp)
Relevance (right-now needs): Seasonal, preventative, or relief-oriented offers outperform generic promos because they map to today’s pain.
Industry plays you can ship this month:
Restaurants: “3-course weekday prix fixe, this week only. Reserve now.”
Med spas: “Book by Friday for a bonus LED add-on with your ‘Maintenance Glow’ package.”
Hotels: “2-night staycation + late checkout, limited weekends. Loyalty members get first pick.”
Home services: “Fall HVAC tune-up. Book by Tuesday to prevent peak-season failures.”
INTEGRATION: ONE PROMISE ACROSS PR, PAID, SEO, SOCIAL, AND WEBSITE
Fragmented messages bleed budget. Your one-line promise must appear in PR, headline, Google Ads H1, Meta hook, landing-page H1, email subject. That’s how you compound impressions and raise efficiency while customers are value-seeking and trading down. (Source: McKinsey & Company)
Example (med spa):
Promise: Physician-led maintenance that protects your results.
PR angle: Why maintenance beats makeover in 2025.
Google Ads: Maintenance Plans keep results. Spend less over time.
Meta: Book by Friday and get a bonus LED therapy with your plan.
Landing H1: Protect your results with physician-led maintenance.
Email CTA: Lock your plan, bonus ends Friday.
Run the same pattern for weekday covers (restaurants), weekend packages (hotels), and seasonal prevention (home services).
THE MESSAGE → OFFER GRID (SHIP THIS IN 48 HOURS)
Build a one-page grid for your top 3 ICP segments.
EXPERIMENTS THAT ACTUALLY CHANGE THE NUMBER
Run controlled A/B tests, measure real outcomes (not likes):
Headline clarity test (website & landing pages)
A: Clever headline
B: Outcome + deadline (i.e. “Reserve prix fixe by Friday”)
Measure: Bookings/consults, not bounce. NN/g research + modern guidance supports brevity for faster task completion. (Source: Nielsen Norman Group)
Offer framing test (paid + email)
A: % off
B: Value bundle (same net value) + time-bound bonus
Measure: Revenue/recipient, ROAS. Urgency mechanics help hesitant buyers decide.
Proof placement test (above the fold)
A: Social proof below fold
B: Reviews/ratings adjacent to CTA
Measure: Click-to-booking rate. General UX evidence: scannable, objective info near actions improves completion. (Source: Nielsen Norman Group)
QUICK WINS TO DEPLOY THIS QUARTER
Rewrite 3 core offers with outcome + deadline (weekday prix fixe; maintenance plan; weekend package; HVAC tune-up).
Standardize revenue CTAs (Book now, reserve today, schedule service). Retire vanity CTAs. Guidance favors plain, scannable language to reduce friction.
Set a promo cadence: one 72-hour push per month per ICP (email + paid + social + website hero).
Tie reporting to money: leads, bookings, consults, service calls, add cost per lead and revenue per offer so operations and finance can reallocate with confidence. (See Part 1 for dashboarding.)
FINAL THOUGHTS
In a downturn, buyers don’t gamble. They choose offers that feel essential, urgent, and proven, communicated with clarity across every channel. Tighten the message, engineer the offer, and make the decision easy.
If your offers aren’t converting, The Golden Growth Intensive is where we engineer your messaging and packaging so you grow revenue without racing to the bottom on price.
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