By Kendra Lee
While people have been sheltering in place away from coronavirus, some companies have been patiently waiting for the world to open again. But, while they’re accommodatingly pausing, giving prospects space to deal with the upheaval in their environments, those same prospects have been grappling with needs only you can solve. Ready to spend money, do prospects even know you’re out there and still in business? Do they know about your company and how you can help with their immediate concerns? Can prospects find you if they look?
You need to guarantee the answer is a resounding “yes!” and keep marketing!
Pivot. Don’t Cut.
Business is tight right now for many, even as we begin to come out of this crisis. You want to be careful where you’re spending, and it’s oh so tempting to cut marketing. That would be shortsighted.
Business development, especially marketing, takes time to build momentum. You’ve invested in amplifying your visibility. Even if you’ve just begun, you have a foothold. If you cut marketing now, you’ll lose the momentum you’ve worked so hard to establish. It will take longer to rebuild as contacts see you disappear, then reappear, leaving them wondering about your viability. In the end, it could potentially cost you more than you save.
Don’t give in to cutting your marketing budget. Pivot.
5 Lead Generation Strategies to Employ Right Now
Savvy businesses are using marketing to stay visible within their target markets. They are offering advice and resources while also sharing how they can help companies that want assistance straight away.
Here are five lead generation strategies you can adopt that are working well right now and examples of how different companies are using them.
- Educational Webinars. Webinars are huge visibility and lead generation opportunities right now. People are flocking to them in droves to figure out how to do business in this new normal. Offer webinars that educate people on how to do that. Two of our clients specialize in Microsoft. They pivoted to offer get-started with Teams and Teams implementation events full of hints and tips to guide their target markets on how to collaborate with their staff and communicate with customers remotely.
These two companies have created new consulting, training, and implementation services for companies who want that level of assistance. At the end of each webinar, they offer those services.
Were these services or webinars in the works before coronavirus? No. They saw the need and pivoted quickly. The demand has been strong, and both companies are visible. Prospects with needs can find them.
- Information Webinars. Not all webinars must center around topics related to your business. Another of our clients, Allison Duffy, President of Silverado Technologies, is running weekly webinars on topics related to coronavirus, the Paycheck Protection Program, employee concerns, mental health issues, and more. Her objective is to provide Tucson business owners access to leaders who are willing to share their expertise with their community at no charge.
Does Silverado Technologies sell CPA, HR, or medical services? No. In each webinar, Allison briefly mentions what their company does and when to contact them without dwelling on it. Her objective is to be available to support Tucson peers in maintaining their business through this crisis.
Last week’s webinar saw over 110 people enrolled with greater than 80% live attendance. Every one of those participants now knows Silverado Technologies’ company name and what they do.
- Email and Resources. Working from home there is less water cooler time and more screen time. Use this to your lead generation advantage to show prospects you are stable, available, and they can count on you in a crisis.
Our client ArcLight Group is sending email broadcasts to keep its community current on a broad range of relevant topics such as business continuity planning in the COVID-19 crisis and bringing remote workers back to the office. They’re express mailing fun tchotchkes to over-worked bosses in essential businesses to liven up their day and offer to help.
Another client with a sales performance consultancy is creating weekly sales tip videos. We’re emailing the videos to their entire customer and prospect list. None of these videos were planned before the coronavirus struck. The owner pivoted so her contacts knew her organization was still there.
We’ve been frantically creating free resources on how to generate leads in uncertain times. We know business owners, salespeople, and marketers have been spinning, trying to figure out how to uncover prospects in this crazy situation. We’ve been sharing the resources through email, webinars, and social media.
- Search Engine Marketing. You may assume a slow-down in the economy means you should pause Google AdWords. I’d tell you to do just the opposite. Buyers’ behaviors are different for the moment. They aren’t asking their network for referrals when they have a need. Perhaps it’s the seclusion of remote work that’s caused this shift. The result is that buyers with immediate needs are googling to find people who can help them.
If you’ve been thinking about launching Google AdWords, now may be the time. One of our clients asked us to continue their AdWords throughout the pandemic. Our client has experienced a marked increase in the number of people who are seeing their ads and clicking to their website for the same price paid before the coronavirus crisis. As companies cut their budgets, it’s left an opportunity for those who did not.
- Until coronavirus, companies only thought to change to their website to promote new solutions or freshen the design. Suddenly we see inventive new solutions emerging as businesses shift, pivot, and flip to have something to sell and stay afloat.
If you’ve developed a new solution, get it on your website immediately. One of our clients was quick to outline how they support their public service first responder customers and local businesses, all from their work from home offices. They included a free trial to help other companies transition to work from home.
Another client created a new website section devoted to their brand-new remote work services. They included a link to their free work-from-home assessment and the option to set a meeting.
If you’re one of the innovative companies that launched new solutions, be sure they’re front and center on your website and search engine optimized so interested prospects will find you.
Checklist to Shift Your Marketing
It’s easier to shift your marketing than to build it during a crisis. Hard as it is, if you don’t have lead generation in place, now more than ever, you need it.
This is the checklist of what you should be doing right now to keep marketing so your prospects know you’re available and how you can help them:
- Varied activities that keep you visible to your clients and target market
- Messaging that conveys your strength and that you’re here for the long-haul
- Website messaging conveying how you can help immediately
- Success stories about how you’ve helped clients during this crisis
- A plan for continuous communication as we emerge from the COIVD-19 crisis and the economy begins to operate again
Do your prospects know you’re there? Use these lead generation strategies and the checklist to increase your visibility and create a momentum that will protect your business and quite possibly make you stronger than before this crisis struck. Keep marketing! If you’d like to implement strategies like the ones I shared, we can help you do it. Book a meeting with me today or call us at +1-303-741-6636 and let’s discuss your vision and where we can help.
