3 Strategies to Market Your Business in a Recession

In this video we're going to discuss three strategies for digital marketing for local service businesses in a recession. And yes, we know that in a recession it may be more challenging to get customers because people are going to be less willing to spend money on services. Now if you're in H vac, plumbing, electrical, and it's more of a necessity, then yes, of course people are going to need that service. But you still have other strategies that you have to look at, but for people to pick maybe a better service or a higher priced service over something else. And so in this video we're going to go through three different strategies and how you can implement them in your business and hopefully during this time actually have a time of growth. And I do strongly believe that currently digital marketing is needed because people are going to be very discerning with how they spend their money. And a good digital marketing game plan is going to help your business stand out. Alright, so the first thing that we're going to do is we're going to look at our sales funnel. And the reason that this is so important is because we really need to highlight the three categories that people go into. And so the first category that we're going to look at is new customers, which is creating visibility for your business. So when people are searching online for a business that they want to use for a product or service, what are the ways that you can help your business stand out from the rest of the. So the first one we talk about this a lot is Google reviews. Naturally people look at this local service back or local service pack organically and they're going to pick the one with the best reviews. So in this time of recession, people are looking for the best company to work with. They want a company first and foremost that is going to get the job done because they don't have extra money to be spending trying to get multiple things done. So having the most reviews out of your competition on this pack is, is going to lead people more likely to come to your business, whether that's calling or whether that is visiting your website. And so that leads us to the first strategy. The first strategy is going to be adding value. So we've done a lot of videos on how to get the visibility for your business which we just talked about. Google reviews. But the most important thing that you can do in this time right now is to add value add. And what this means is that when people come to your website, do they know the exact process that they're going to be taken through for your service? So if you're a carpet cleaning company. Do they know, start to finish, how this is going to look? Do they know that it's going to start with this and it's going to end with this? Can they feel confident or almost guaranteed that this is going to happen? And ways that they can do that is by obviously getting reviews and having other people say how great you are. But more importantly is by documenting and building the value of what you actually do. Just like if someone calls your business and they say, I want my carpet screen, you're like, okay, it's going to be 10 bucks a room. It's way different than saying, okay, well, we're going to have a person come out that has 10 years of experience, they're going to analyze all your carpet, they're going to make recommendations on this, this and this, and they're going to tell you what's going to be best for you. It can build up a little bit more than just solely competing on price. And so customers are going to want that because they're going to be very leery about spending money and they want to make sure that they're spending on things that are going to add value to them. So the first thing you can do is add value. A strategy, like I just said, was documenting your process, explaining what you do and what's different than maybe working with someone else. The other thing you can do is add value by educating people. And a great way to do this is by having a blog answering questions. And so this might not necessarily be a use for people coming to your website, though it may. They may go to your website and read content and say, oh yeah, I really trust this person. Seems like they're open and. But when you're speaking with them on the phone, let's say someone asks you, well, what are some free tools that businesses should use? Then you could say, oh, well, here's a couple. And actually I did a blog post about that. What's your email address? Let me email you this information to help you with your decision making process. So this goes above and beyond of adding value, but it's using content or using your website or using something that you've created to even add more value on top. And then guess what, you have their email address and their phone number so you can follow up on that lead. So it's a really, really good way to add value to people when they contact your business is by using content, documenting your processes, using testimonials and reviews to build trust with your prospects. All right, so the next one that we have is to make the process easy to work with your business. This goes regardless of what time that we're in, but even more when people are going to be very quick to say oh man, I can't get in touch with this business. It's so difficult. So how can you make it easy to do business with, with your company? So the first one is adding a chat widget like this, very, very easy. I don't know. Do you do this service? Can I ask you a question? How much is this going to be? Right? Any question that you have in the world, you can send a quick text message to a company. So make it very, very easy to work with your business. So this is a great way having a chat widget. If you don't have this on, I'll put a link down below. We should talk because we can help you. Setting up a call now. So having some type of online scheduling for your business, whether that's if you have one to one meetings beforehand or if you're a true service business and someone can schedule maybe a call back or an appointment. Another really, really good one for local service businesses is to get a quote. And we don't have necessarily good quote because we have our pricing right here. But, but if you don't want to show your full on pricing or maybe it's very, very custom, then what you can do is have a get a quote here. People can fill out the information that's going to allow you to give them a quote and it will get to that point of them turning into a lead but making it very easy to work with your business. So the second strategy is to make it super easy to work with your business. People don't want to be going around hunting and searching for the company. They want the best company that makes it easy to work with. And then the last part of this funnel. So we have adding value, making it easy to become a lead, easy to schedule an appointment, easy to say yes. And then the last part of this is working your database. So most businesses have a book of business or clientele that they've served in the past. And this is a gold mine for businesses to create returning customers. And so if you don't have a process for nurturing your past customers in your past process prospects, this is going to be a really, really good strategy for you to people that know, like and trust you already, bring them back into your funnel and keep this funnel alive. So how can you do this? So if you send out a monthly newsletter or have some type of constant contact or mailchimp or something. You can send out a monthly newsletter or an email with specials, promotions, just staying in contact with them. Hey, we know right now it's difficult. So maybe you're not going to clean your carpets this month. But here's two ways to keep your carpets fresh. That's a great piece of content that you could share with them that adds value. The other thing you can do is by doing some type of text message marketing or retargeting to your prospects or customers. And so this is a really good way to get back out in front of them maybe. Hey, this is the owner, this is Phil from Flash Consulting. Just want to reach out to you and offer you a coupon. I know times may be tough right now, but I want to make sure that if you still want to get your carpets clean, we can make it as affordable as possible. Here's a gift card. And if you don't want to feel free to share this with someone else as a prior customer, we'll honor that for them as well. It's a really good messaging tool to make people feel like yes, I do value as a customer, but then also to drum up business and bring them back into the funnel and make it and making it easy to work with you. So those are going to be the three things that right now when people are maybe a little bit tense about spending money or, or nervous about what the future holds from the economy perspective is they want to be able to know that the company I'm working with is going to be the best bang for my buck. So adding value, it's going to be so easy to work with them. They're going to do this, this and this. And it's going to be easy and streamlined to communicate and I know what I'm getting and then also to work your, your past database of people that know, like and trust you, that will want to support you in this time if it is going to be a difficult time for your business. So if you need help with building any of this funnel, this is what we implement with our is literally a new customer funnel, an acquisition customer funnel, a conversion and then a retargeting campaign. And we will be happy to talk with you. Even if it's not a right fit to work with us. Whether it's based on price or timing or whatever, we still will be happy to talk with you and help you come up with a game plan for your business. So again, we'll put some links down below. Get in touch with us if you like content like this be sure to hit like and subscribe. We post videos about growing local service businesses and we look forward to seeing you in the next video.