Uncertain times can make people extremely cautious and make business owners automatically retreat and or cut back, especially when it comes to their business strategy. Many of you may even see your cashflow slowly dwindle.
Just remember the old saying, “Tough times don’t last. Tough people do.”
That’s why in this article we address viewing uncertain times as a “good thing” for your businesses and to provide you with some practical “golden nuggets” to get you through this challenging period.
1. Strengthen Your Reputation
Whatever you do don’t disappear. Continue to be visible. Find your way to remain active! Online allows this to happen more cost effectively, but don’t forget some of the traditional channels too, such as telephone phone, skype, zoom or face-time call can also be effective.
Online Customers or clients are more likely to search for a company online than ever before, so if you’re starting to roll back on your efforts and minimising your visibility, then you’re not going to be found. Or worse still, you’re going to come across as uncertain or distant, as if you don’t really believe in yourselves or care. And if you don’t then how can your customers or clients? Customers and clients seek stability and surety, so if you’re able to show that you’re both of those things online or offline, then they’re still going to invest time, energy and money into your products or services, especially when things will rebound for the best.
2. Share tips or success stories
The written word, the moving image, engaging images, it all comes down to one thing. Storytelling. Showing your customers or clients the positive outcomes of your products or services has the power to transform your offering from an intangible product into a real vision for your customers or clients.
Maybe with your long-standing clients or customers, you haven’t had the time to share some of your success stories, achievements, testimonials, awards, new websites, marketing campaigns, case studies, that you’ve have won. Alternatively your may have even delivered worked with complimentary clients and even with competitors. All of these activities are worth communicating. Create the right channel and share relevant information engaging information. No need to re-create the magna carta, even just a few lines and images moving or not, will be effective. It may jot their memory or create a new memory for future work or opportunities down the line, especially when things start to pick up.
3. Step away from the herd, avoid the “sheep” mentality
Where some businesses in your niche may be stepping away from marketing, now’s the time for you to take the lead and stop following the crowd.
As we’ve already mentioned, clients or customers like to see a continuous stream of content online, and offline. Choosing not to market means choosing to leave your sales to chance, and this can often have a negative impact on your business’s income. Remember, without new customers or clients, a business will stagnate. Take control and step away from the crowd. You maybe thinking but I have no budget for sales and marketing. (We have this covered a little later on)….so keep reading.
4. Showcase your forward-thinking Philosophy
Staying optimistic about marketing in uncertain times can be hard, and the natural assumption is that the business needs to draw back and focus on existing resources.
However, for a company to continue generating revenue, they need to adopt a forward-thinking spirit or methodology. Some companies may withdraw from advertising and PR or the organic marketing sphere, and this gives your business a real opportunity to jump into the gap left behind.
Your name will still be out there, customers and clients will still see you and they’re more likely to remember your efforts. Ultimately, good marketing and a positive attitude takes a lot of the hard work out of profiling your business. Find a HOOK, to continue engagement and adopt a tone of empathy with your language and communications. Remain connected in some shape or form and let clients and customers know you’re there and still have them top of mind during this challenging period.
5. Hire brand ambassadors/influencers if you have a product.
Employ friendly individuals to be brand ambassadors for your product or service. Brand ambassadors act as representatives of the company and spread the word to amongst targeted stakeholders. In today’s digital world, social content creators with niche audiences can often offer more value to brands. Do your research! These people have dedicated and engaged groups of followers on social media. They are known simply as “social media influencers.”
A more effective approach to influencer marketing involves developing an authentic professional relationship with someone who shares similar business goals with your brand but has already established a loyal audience that trusts their knowledge and point of view.
Reaching out to influencers and getting them to be willing to advocate for you is not a quick process. When it is done correctly, ultimately it can give your brand access to a large number of people (followers) who are interested in listening to a voice they trust. When they hear your message from this influencer, they may be able to be persuaded to trust in your message and your brand as well. Influencer outreach needs to be done carefully and thoughtfully from choosing the right people to approaching them the right way. Here are five tips for developing a strategy that works.
