A recession usually follows every economic boom. Most business owners understand this vicious economic cycle and prepare accordingly. As the owner of a marketing agency, one of the main goals you should have during a recession is to improve client retention.
Statistically speaking, over 80 percent of a company’s future revenue will come from around 20 percent of its existing customers. Keeping your existing clients loyal is also far cheaper than marketing to potential clients.
Are you trying to keep your clients loyal and engaged during this current recession? If so, here are some things you need to try.
1. Provide Better Results with SEO Outsourcing
When an economic downturn occurs, most business owners will immediately begin trimming the fat from their budgets. During this process, a business owner will assess what they are paying for your marketing services and the value your agency provides. If a business owner feels like they aren’t getting what they pay for, they might stop using your marketing agency.
One of the main things you can do to provide better results to your clients is outsourcing SEO. Leaving things like content creation, on-page optimization and link building to the professionals is a great way to drive more traffic to your client’s websites.
By hiring a whitelabel SEO provider, you can help clients generate more leads. If your marketing efforts are helping a client put money in their pockets, they will have a hard time terminating their contract with your agency.
2. Work On Instilling Confidence in Your Clients
A recession has a way of making business owners question everything. This includes things like how well the marketing agency they’ve hired is conveying information about their products/services to consumers. Instead of making your clients question your validity and knowledge, work on instilling confidence in them.
Instilling this confidence will require you to do things like:
- Communicating with clients every week
- Anticipate the needs of your clients
- Teaching rather than selling
- Owning the mistakes your agency makes
- Being transparent
Clients that are confident in your ability to market their products/services to online consumers will remain loyal during a recession.
3. Work On Improving Your Client’s Website
Recent data released by the Census Bureau showed that online spending has increased by roughly 15 percent since the start of the recession. This means that modern consumers are choosing to stay at home and find the best possible prices online. If you want to prove your worth to a client during this economic downturn, helping them generate more leads with their website is crucial.
Improving your client’s website is a great way to accomplish this goal. Auditing their website and fixing any on-page SEO errors is a step in the right direction. You also need to think about adding interactive content that appeals to modern consumers.
Content like quizzes, infographics, and videos will attract the attention of website visitors. Keeping these visitors on your client’s website for a longer amount of time can improve conversion rates. When your client sees how many new clients they’re getting as a result of your website improvements, they will be more loyal to your agency.
4. Check In With Your Clients Regularly
One of the biggest mistakes you can make is giving your clients the feeling that they are just another number. If a client doesn’t feel like they are appreciated, it is only a matter of time before they seek out the help of your competitor. Going long periods without speaking to clients can make them feel unwanted or neglected.
Checking in with your clients a few times a month is a great way to show them you care. When checking in with your clients, don’t talk about business immediately. To improve client retention, you want these meetings to have a personal touch. Asking clients about their families or how they are faring during a recession is a wise idea.
Once these pleasantries have been exchanged, you can get down to business. Getting feedback from clients on any problems they might be experiencing is important.
If a client expresses a problem with their marketing campaigns, you need to work on addressing them quickly. A happy client will be more loyal and more likely to spend more money with your marketing agency.
5. Be Responsive When Clients Reach Out
Regardless of how hard you try to satisfy your customers, there will come a time when one of them has a problem. It is important to make it easy for clients to reach out to your marketing agency. You can do this by using chatbots on your website.
You also need to prominently display contact information on your website so your clients can easily find it. Once you receive a message from a displeased client, time is of the essence. Reaching out to them within 24 hours can help you make a positive impression.
Being responsive will help reassure a client that they’ve made the right choice by hiring your marketing agency. Coming up with written rules for employees on how these types of client interactions should be handled will allow you to avoid problems in the future.
6. Take Your Clients into Uncharted Territory
Helping clients grow in the midst of a recession is a surefire way to keep them loyal. Taking your clients into uncharted territories, like social media, can help generate more leads. When trying to help clients establish a presence on social media, you need to start by adding social share buttons to their content.
Once these buttons are in place, you need to start promoting their content on popular platforms like Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. Adequately promoting blog content on these platforms will drive more traffic to a client’s website.
This traffic will help a client expand their reach and enhance profitability over time. Posting on social media daily can help your clients stay fresh in the minds of consumers.
Implementing these tips is vital if you are serious about improving client retention during a recession.