How Should I Market My Business in a Lull?

Marketing Tips How Should

I Market My Business

One thing I believe we can all agree on right now is that 2020 has been a memorable year for small businesses. in a Lull?

I’ve talked to very few business owners or franchisees who have said that it has been “business as usual” for them. Add a traditional summer “lull” for many industries, by Michele Rempel and it could be a slow year indeed. As I mentioned in my previous article, marketing during difficult times becomes even more vital to the health of your business. Rather than thinking of this as a marketing “downtime,” think of it as a marketing “uptime.” Here are some ways you can take advantage of a slowdown:

“… marketing during difficult times becomes even more vital to the health of your business. Write about your successes Have you been thinking about those customer success stories from the last year or so? Now is a good season to turn those stories into case studies that you can share on your website and social media. Case studies can be in print or video format and are perfect for sharing on social media, in emails and on your website (if you can add content to your site). They are also helpful for your sales agents to review and even share with prospects.

Do some sleuthing about your competition

If you haven’t been paying attention to what your competition is doing online, you might have some extra resources (time, if nothing else) to do that now. Whenever we talk to prospective clients about helping them market their businesses, we always spend some time checking out their competition. When your business is humming along, it is easy to get micro-focused on what’s happening in your own business and lose sight of what others are doing. You might discover new opportunities or threats, or a new approach to marketing that you had not considered before. Reward your loyal customers This could be the perfect time to develop a loyalty program, especially if your franchise is in the service industry. We’ve worked with franchisees who ordered a few different gift items (usually with their logo) to give to customers on their start date “anniversaries” (“Thanks for being a loyal customer for 2 years!”) or who have used their services after a certain number of times. We have seen customers post about the gesture on social media or even use it as the impetus to post a review on Google or Facebook. Your local promotional items rep will be overjoyed and probably extremely helpful in selecting the best gifts for your loyalty program.

Build a new marketing channel

Consider branching out into a new social channel. We have seen several of our clients decide that this is the time to embrace Instagram or LinkedIn as an additional way to reach potential customers and clients. Others have been using this opportunity to reconnect via regular email newsletters to past customers.

Economic downturns or lulls can be frightening and frustrating. Responding to them with a fresh perspective can pay big dividends. “In the midst of chaos, there is also opportunity”. ~Sun Tzu

Michele Rempel is the founder and managing partner of Westvyne, a marketing and website design firm based in California and Illinois. For almost a decade, she and her team have been guiding their clients in what to say, how to say it, where to say it, and who to say it to in order to attract and retain customers. For more information about Westvyne, visit www.westvyne.com.