There’s an entire country of people who are about to do — or are already doing — what we do every day:
Work from home.
You already know the impact that’s having on businesses, particularly small businesses and those that were struggling before the pandemic. Some companies are scaling back drastically (Macy’s, Lush, Sephora, and Boeing to name a few).
Plenty of companies will never return.
But plenty of companies remain and will thrive. Essential companies and industries that were not affected by the massive halting of commerce across the globe are still working every day, albeit from home.
[bctt tweet=”Businesses, even in the time of pandemic, still need #freelancewriting help.” username=”LoriWidmer”]
I know what some of you may be thinking: how can I market during a world-altering pandemic?
Thoughtfully.
My last post goes over how to focus on relationship marketing, and now is the time to focus on those relationships.
Time for you to become that valuable resource who can help your clients come out the other side of this shutdown prepared to take on new business.
Here are three ways you can market to your still-working clients:
1. Make the most of a bad situation.
I give my writer friend Randy credit for this idea. Right now, publications are dropping freelance budgets and cutting staff to keep the lights on. Guess what? They still need content. Your client’s contributed (unpaid) article stands a much better chance of being printed when there’s little competition for space in the publication. That’s what your client needs to hear.
Particularly if you’re the freelance writer who’s affected by their budget woes.
It’s perfectly acceptable and ethical for freelance writers to place articles for clients in publications they also work with. I do it all the time, and the editors are all fine with it. (Since I’m the one who contacts them on behalf of the client, there’s full transparency.) If your editor lets you know that the work is drying up, ask if they accept contributed pieces. If so, go right to your client list and let them know there’s an opportunity waiting.
2. Suggest retooling the marketing materials.
Know this; right now there are companies across the world that are making the most of the lull in their businesses. Now might be the right time for your clients to revisit their marketing materials or even finish that white paper or case study they’d been putting off for lack of time.
Look through your client list. Which ones have had the same website copy, the same brochures, the same show handouts for a year or more? Time for a refresh.
3. Help them take advantage of slower work periods.
With at least four weeks remaining in my own state’s stay-at-home order, I know plenty of clients who could get a blog up and running and have plenty of content ready for a May 1st launch. Or they could be capitalizing now on how to help their customers during the pandemic. Helpful email blasts, blog content that walks customers through how to keep working (and working with them), strategies for post-lockdown investing, insurance review advice from agents, webinars for customers … you name it, your clients can be doing plenty to stay in front of their customers. And you can help them do it.
4. Be the value-add they need.
Okay, I lied — there are four things you can do to market right now. Don’t wait for them to suggest work to you. Instead, be active in reaching out, checking on them, and suggesting ways in which they can remain top-of-mind with their customers, or how they can build something now for use later. Be another idea person for them. While many companies are struggling right not to know the right move to make, you as an outsider can tell them, from a customer’s perspective, what would draw you to them.
Writers, how are you marketing right now? What ideas can you share for helping clients stay relevant right now?