When business is booming, we have a lot to celebrate, which usually means we're generating plenty of content - social media posts occur daily, blogs are flowing from our brains and the website is shining. It makes perfect sense because we naturally want to share our good news and we’re on a business high, full of motivation.
And we're usually rewarded for our efforts too. The momentum we're generating brings in likes, comments, new followers and customers, all of which adds to the great vibe we’ve got going on.
However lately a lot of us, me included, have experienced a downturn in business. A number of my clients dropped away this year; and no, it’s not because Chat GPT is putting me out of work.
Times are tough and what I do has been described to me as a "luxury service". Businesses would love to use me / hire me but when money is tight and costs must be cut, my services are among the first to go.
And it follows that when you’re feeling down and want to hide, your social media and marketing goes quiet.
I am guilty of it. When the clients started to fall away, I felt embarrassed by how "expendable" I was. And because I was feeling low, my posts reduced, which reduced my followers (another hit to the ego) and the blogs weren’t happening because I simply didn’t feel inspired to write them.
I am talking about this now because I know I’m not alone and also because, having regained my composure and a little mental toughness, I'm feel motivated to fix this and if I can share this and inspire others, it's a win/win.
An element to getting through this is: do not fall silent.
As hard as it may seem, especially if you are feeling deflated, you must keep communicating with your consumers across all your channels. Why? To stay front of mind.
Your customers haven’t disappeared. Like you they are just quiet, but they are still there, still listening. And when they are ready to spend, you want to make sure they are spending with you and not someone else – someone who has been louder than you.
The next question of course is what to communicate about. If you don’t have a reem of successes or even news to promote, where does the content come from?
Go back to square one. Say all the things you were saying when you first started in business.
Reintroduce yourself, give a few fun, personal details and remind people of the face behind the business.
Tell the story of how and why you started in business. Some of your audience may have heard it before but not all of them. It’s a great story so use it again and again. Retelling the story may help remind you why you’re in this.
No “of the moment” news? No worries – bring up some great things that happened previously. Doesn’t matter if it was a while ago – there is no limit to celebrating.
Share some of your trade tips and tricks. We’re all in this difficult time together so share a little of what you know to help out a mate. This also helps to build trust and loyalty with your customers.
You may be quiet but you’re still doing something. Show us! Highlight those business values in your communications and show everyone what makes your business special. People want more than a product these days - they want to feel good who they're spending with.
Do some market research and use your communications (and this quieter time) to ask your customers what they need from you. Consumer preferences are constantly changing so ask them directly. It will be an invaluable insight into how you can navigate through this time.
Don’t fall silent. As a colleague said to me, “people aren’t spending right now but they will again. Make sure they know you’re still around.”
Wanna talk about this some more? Drop me a line, I’d be happy to chat.