There are lots of things you can do during times of economic turbulence to attract clients to your business, whatever it may be. Certain methods, however, are more effective than others. You have probably seen television commercials start to swing their advertising methods in certain directions, many of them designed to take advantage of, rather than suffer from or avoid, the current economic crisis. Here, in no particular order, are ten of the most popular tips for attracting clients in a credit crunch.
Take advantage of the economic hardship by providing discounts, money saving packages, and other ways for customers to scrimp and save.
Advertise your product on websites that feature money saving techniques, or in magazines on finance and economics, especially if your services pertain to them.
Try and show how your services will actually save your client money, rather than making it seem like they can spend less money on you.
Provide services or deals that cannot be found elsewhere, especially when they end up saving money for both sides.
Try offering bundle packages, which is the combination of several services or products into a single package, as these are attractive to clients when money is tight.
Do as much work as possible in short-term contracts, as these let lots of clients evaluate your skills and service and set up possible long-term projects.
Once you have long-term projects set up with new clients, remember that it is always cheaper to keep an existing client than recruit a new one.
If you are getting poor results from your advertising style, try a different style. Maybe even try a different medium.
Word of mouth advertising is always effective if properly employed, although this can also be done through paid blogging or other long-form internet advertising.
Keep trying new things. If something is not getting you clients, try it somewhere else, or try something else entirely. Keep yourself moving.
Staying alive for the next few years is going to be particularly difficult for just about every business, but just remember, keep moving. If you are constantly trying new things to see what works, and then sticking with what does work, you have got a much higher chance of seeing positive results than if you were to stubbornly cling to a single method. The changing state of the national economy demands a different business model than most companies have been using for the last few years. It will be hard to try and keep one step ahead of the market in these difficult times but hopefully the tips above will help avoid any suprises.
Lilach Bullock runs 2 full time businesses, asklilach providing virtual pa services & Virtual PA Training, helping people set up their own successful virtual assistant business. Lilach recently attended an Award Ceremony at Downing Street for best Mumpreneur. asklilach.co.uk
