June 6, 2023
In an Economic Recession, Resilience Wins
When faced with adversity, we need one key superpower: resilience. Sometimes, it comes easier than we would have guessed. Are we “lucky” in that instance, or have we just prepared ourselves more thoroughly than others?
I prefer to believe the latter. This is one topic I’m particularly interested in (and passionate about), and one I was fortunate to weigh in on in a recent Fast Company article: “20 Ways To Handle Professional Loss In An Uncertain Marketplace.” I felt it appropriate to address why this is so important in the affiliate marketing channel.
How Does this Uncertainty Fit Into the Affiliate Marketing Channel?
We’re all well aware of the economic recession uncertainty that’s happening. Perhaps too well aware at times, because it so intimately impacts all business operations. I’ve heard many sentiments from both clients and cohorts concerned about how a recession might impact not just the affiliate marketing industry, but the greater ecommerce market as a whole.
This is not the time to put our heads in the sand and hope for the best. Instead, it’s time to put our heads together and identify solutions. I’m thankful to have expert members serving alongside me on the Fast Company Executive Board. Here’s a quick synopsis of the Fast Company article—representing snippets of the collective expertise of my fellow board members.
Insights from Experts Who Have Been in the Economic Recession Trenches
My contribution to the article focused on “revisiting ideas and unpacking what went wrong.” We do this all the time in our personal lives, why shouldn’t we do it in our professional ones? It’s so important to not immediately scratch an initiative that lacked instant performance. I have performed this practice continuously throughout my tenure in the affiliate marketing industry and as the CEO of a successful affiliate marketing management agency.
As I say in the article, “Businesses are brimming with a graveyard of great initiatives that were abandoned as pressure loomed for immediate success. Before throwing the ‘baby out with the bathwater, revisit these ideas to examine your previous efforts. It’s more efficient and cost-effective to uncover lessons from previously low-performing programs before you jump into the next new project or hop on the latest trend.”
This is something I’m more than familiar with in the affiliate channel. Sometimes if an affiliate marketing strategy or tactic didn’t perform well at the outset, there are still ways to optimize its effectiveness. Whether the issue was lack of time, low search rank, or battling the competition, solutions exist—especially if they are tech-enabled/tech-driven and align with human expertise.
Now, I wanted to share some of the insights from my fellow board members.
- Reflect and Pinpoint Essential Criteria for Future Opportunities: Karen Budell suggests giving yourself time to process the situation and identify your essential requirements for future opportunities.
- Identify and Capitalize on Your Strengths: Emily Howard advises identifying both hard and soft skills that can transfer across different roles and industries.
- Invest in Skill Development and Networking: Robert Nikic advises staying positive and proactive by expanding your network and developing new skills.
- Understand and Communicate Your Unique Value in the Industry: Sandeep Shilawat encourages understanding your unique value proposition and keeping it relevant to market changes.
- Rely on Personal Resilience and Seize Opportunities: Glo Gordon advises leveraging personal resilience, maintaining a strong personal brand, and utilizing networking opportunities.
- Positively Recreate Your Career Path: Kim Salem-Jackson encourages taking setbacks as opportunities to explore new areas and skills, maintaining positivity and confidence.
- Transform Failure into Success: Karl Giuseffi views failure as a growth opportunity, emphasizing the importance of adapting and learning from setbacks.
Stay the Course
Of course, these aren’t the only ways to handle affiliate marketing setbacks in career or business, particularly within an uncertain economy. But, they do emphasize the importance of learning from challenges, maintaining connections with mentors and colleagues, and continuing to work towards both short- and long-term goals.
We can weather the economic recession storm when we have strategies like these to guide us. If you’re looking to explore opportunities available to your brand via an affiliate marketing agency, please make sure to get in touch.