Cycles of growth and slowdowns are inevitable and your business will be buffeted by economic winds. This is reality of any business. However we believe that slowdown periods are very valuable as they allow businesses to take stock of reality and trim the fat, so to speak.
So, here are a few things that you can do for your website and digital presence when faced with a slowdown.
During the good times businesses tend to create bloated value propositions. Information gets piled on top of information to create an unfocused view of services/products being offered. As leads dry up during a slowdown it would make sense to sharpen your products/services value proposition.
This can be done by trimming the base information, using bullets to highlight important features, using infographics & tables to summarize data, and mixing in testimonials. Overall making your value proposition easier to understand and more attractive.
You can also create special packages with attractive offers than might entice good leads but be careful to ensure a healthy margin on these. You don’t want work only for work’s sake.
It’s also a great idea to add more touch points for the visitors to get in touch with your sales team through forms or live chats. Add a Whatsapp chat number as well if feasible. Be very easy to reach.
Most businesses, (we are guilty as well), tend to avoid or ignore this important aspect of online promotion and marketing. Creating a profile of your work can be time consuming so lots of businesses don’t even attempt it. But during a slowdown you need to stand out and the best way to do this is by highlighting your successes.
You can highlight your work in the best way that suits your business. You can use stories or videos to showcase your work. Create case studies and whitepaper of the impact your services are making on your customers. Tap your employees to share success stories and anecdotes. Gather data of quantifiable gains made by customers and highlight them through interesting infographics.
A slowdown is no time to be shy about your work or your success.
It’s very important to build credibility of your business during a slowdown as supply with be greater than demand and you have to prove yourself. Reach out to your customers/clients and ask them to provide testimonials, either written or if possible on video.
Use these testimonials extensively across your site to highlight your reliability and delivery. Include it on product/service pages and anywhere else they make sense.
Another way to improve credibility is to highlight certifications and accreditations through logos on the site with a link to the certifying authority. Being certified by important organizations in the industry will make it easier for visitors to give you the lead.
A slowdown will inevitably give you more time to focus on areas you normally neglect such as your site analytics and your SEO activities. For most businesses SEO is usually on auto pilot with an occasional glance at the monthly reports from your SEO vendor.
But this is a good time to do a deep dive into your website performance. Schedule a meeting with your SEO vendor and go through the site performance in detail. Look at keywords, rankings, content performance, visitor demographics etc and come up with actionable points to improve the website performance.
It is amazing the number of efficiencies you can find when you deep dive into your analytics. Like a desk drawer, a website also gathers inefficiencies and clutter. It’s time to get things in order.
Ad campaigns on Google, LinkedIn or Facebook are another area which you need to focus heavily on. During the good times, budgets are not an issue and bloated ad campaigns run at will. But during slowdowns you need to tighten your belt and get most bang for your buck.
Review the campaigns and focus only on ads that deliver the best conversions on a focused set of products/services. Cut away any and all spends on ancillary ads which sap your budget.
Remove all ad channels which were ‘nice to have’ but don’t really produce any results. Examine your social media spends closely and honestly. You can trim the fat on all useless activities.
In conclusion, nothing focuses attention like a slowdown. It really pinches in the short term but in the long term can be immensely beneficial if you take the time and effort to focus your digital activities.
