If you've been in business long enough, at some point you've been challenged by a downturn. My business started off the back of the Global Financial Crisis and I'm often asked how it was able to survive that period.
Marketing during a downturn is just as important as marketing through the good times. And, in fact, maybe even more so. Warren Buffet's quote:
Be fearful when others are greedy, and greedy when others are fearful
applies to marketing too.
Right now, we're in the midst of coronavirus (COVID-19). With businesses being tested in different ways, some of your competitors are choosing to cut back their marketing. Some because they're struggling to keep up with the increase in new clients. Others because they're not servicing clients right now. Either way, this becomes your opportunity.
Whether we're in an economic downturn or not, consistency with marketing is important. It's important businesses think long term in relation to marketing. Your original marketing plan may change, but with 66% believing their social media usage habits would increase during this time (Source: IZEA), now more than ever it’s important to be where your ideal client is.
What if you keep building your audience and leads? How will it position you when we come out the other side of this?
1. How to find ideal clients online
So how do you find your ideal clients? As just pointed out, your ideal clients are now online. But it goes deeper than that.
To find them, first you need to understand WHO your ideal client is - the person you most want to serve in your business - and WHERE your ideal client is hanging out.
There are a few ways to find this out if you don’t know already:
- Ask your current or past clients where they’re hanging out online, so you can show up and meet people where they are.
- Look to your own habits right now. Generally, we were our ideal client 5 or 10 years ago, so where are you frequenting online right now? This may differ from what you were doing pre-coronavirus.
- If neither of the above apply to you, then pick a platform you enjoy and start there. Unless your targeting millennials or certain b2b business owners, Facebook is always a great place to start.
Once you determine what the platforms are, then you need to figure out what forms of marketing within that platform they resonate with and that you'd enjoy doing.
Take Facebook for example. It has:
- organic posts on your page,
- Facebook Live videos,
- Messenger,
- Stories
- Events
- Groups,
- Watch
- Advertising
What makes the most sense to your business? The key is to keep it simple. Less is more.
2. How to know what to post?
It's important to listen to the marketplace to know what your audience need. This might seem obvious, but it’s surprising how many businesses jump in with content before they actually listen to their ideal client.
If your business is still operating, you have the luxury of being able to ask your clients or customers what they’re most struggling with right now. But if you don’t, then visit online spaces where your ideal client is (you know where these are now) and listen to the conversations happening on pages, groups and in videos.
For example, my accountant is putting out newsletters that outline what the stimulus package is for individuals and businesses. Then underneath that they provide a comment that, in layman’s terms, explains exactly what that all means to me as a business person.
This has become my go-to source for information, because they care enough to help me understand - rather than other firms I’ve seen that are copying and pasting what the government press release or website information says. I can get that information anywhere.
My own example is realising that many of my ideal clients are parents like me. They’re challenged by working from home, managing staff remotely and homeschool children or entertaining kids on holidays. They’re overwhelmed and don’t have time to watch a one-hour webinar.
This provided clues for me that either blog posts they can skim read (like this one) OR short videos were going to be key for them.
What is it for you? What are your audience saying that will allow you to adapt your marketing to fit with them? How does what you offer fit into their world? What creative ways can your business pivot to help?
Which brings us to the next point...
3. Adapt your marketing during a downturn
Hopefully you've already been working with a 12-month marketing plan and then breaking that down into quarterly plans. This always makes adapting your marketing during a downturn much easier when you can see what you've been doing and how it needs to shift quickly.
With things moving fast at the moment, one of the benefits of online marketing is the ability to switch things up quickly. With social media, blogs, newsletters and even online advertising, you can get your new message out in a matter of minutes - rather than days.
When you look at your current marketing plan, where do your strategies need to pivot? What needs to be put on hold? it's important to create plans now that are flexible.
If you have marketing activities already booked, find ways to creatively adapt your marketing if you wish for these activities to continue.
An example of a business pivoting their marketing plan is my client One Agency JD Property Agents - a real estate agency in Fairy Meadow. It wasn't able to go ahead with its annual in-person Easter Egg Hunt and instead used Virtual Reality home tour technology to create a virtual Easter Egg hunt throughout an off-market property. This resulted in the community still feeling connected and the local kids not missing out on the event. The surprise bonus was enquiries for the property. People are looking for fun and entertaining content.
At the very basic level, it's important to keep your audience informed of where your business is at. A simple post pinned to the top of your Facebook page or Twitter account that outlines where your business sits in the current climate and what measures you have in place if you’re still operating can help clients.
Even letting clients know if you've had to make the decision to close your doors is important.
My hairdresser originally pinned a post to say that the changing regulations around hairdressing had prompted them to close their doors for the time being. I can't tell you how excited I was when they changed that pinned post a week later to say they had decided to reopen and would be taking one on one bookings only, which would involve one hairdresser and one customer in the salon at a time.
Even with advertising, there are now opportunities for much cheaper leads with Facebook ads due to a decrease in advertising budgets. If you have the budget, now is a great time to either jump on board or increase your spend if you want to grow for the future. However, be conscious of what your message is within those ads and that it's sensitive to the current climate.
Which brings us to the next topic...
4. Adapting your marketing's language and tone
Right now you need to be conscious of your language and tone in marketing material more than ever. Shift your language to adapt to the times to ensure your tone and message is appropriate. If you’re unsure where to start, look to your purpose, vision and values as your guide.
Some businesses may be nervous about appearing opportunistic at this time if they sell. There's certainly plenty of differing views on what you should and shouldn't do right now. But it’s important to remember that selling is service and by not sharing how you can help someone right now isn’t benefiting anyone. I'm grateful my hairdresser chose to sell through their pinned Facebook post.
Highlight how your brand can help and its unique value in this current climate, whether through
- resources
- content
- services
Even the blog posts you’re writing can go a long way to help someone as part of your marketing during a downturn. That's the whole point behind this blog post, a guest post I wrote for The Consortium Lounge and video for the Illawarra Business Chamber all released this week.
Always think about addressing the current issues with empathy and mindful marketing.
A good example of this is the ZigZag Hub, which is holding a free online business skills course for young entrepreneurs aged 9-15 years. This builds their audience for when they're ready to reintroduce their Young Entrepreneur program later.
5. Build genuine relationships by having two-way conversations
Two goals to aim for when doing online marketing are:
- drive people to your shopfront. In today’s environment, that means your website.
- build genuine relationships, because they'll pay you back in the long run.
A little while back Mark Zuckerberg came out and said:
“I’m changing the goal I give our product teams from focusing on helping you find relevant content to helping you have more meaningful social interactions”.
This highlighted to us how important relationship marketing and conversations were going to become. Now online conversations are more important to our business than ever as we all find ourselves in isolation and unable to lean on the counter in our shop and have a good ol' chinwag with a client.
But how do you have two-way conversations online?
The reality is, it’s not too dissimilar to what you’d do in person:
- Add value first through stories that entertain, educate and inform
- Create two-way conversations to build genuine relationships. That means replying back when someone comments on your social media post or in your blog posts
- Care more by knowing how to respond to feedback. When your business is evolving as fast as it may be right now, sometimes we don’t get it right and that can attract negative feedback. The way to respond to this is with kindness and by following your social media crisis management plan.
- Do more videos, especially live videos where people are able to engage with you in real time. Some are using Facebook Live, some have taken to Zoom and others are doing stories on Instagram. Whatever it is for you, having people see your face and hear your voice goes a long way in building relationships.
The conversations you start now, will matter in the future.
If you're wondering how exactly you start conversations on places like social media, the key is to tell stories that entertain, educate or inform. You can find Facebook post ideas to get you started.
Whatever your situation, now is the time to double down on your marketing to ensure you come out the other side of this in the best possible position. Look for creative ways to put yourself out there that draw people to you.
Reassess Your Marketing Plan
Great blog Kellie, and I loved the video. It has so much great advice about what to do in these difficult times. Having conversations and keep marketing! Love it. Thanks Leeza
Thanks Leeza! So glad you found it helpful. You are doing a great job at keeping conversations happening during this time! x