Very weird day yesterday. Sitting here at nearly 2 pm, the house started to shake. At first I wondered why the stepson was running through the house. Then it continued, and I realized the blinds on the windows were moving. Not my first earthquake tremor, but certainly the strongest.
Continued the marketing. If you’ve been at this for any length of time, you’re probably already seeing patterns within and among your clients. For example, when they call with projects and when they don’t varies. You may also see the difference in your own success rate (if you’re tracking it). Magazines want copy pretty much throughout the summer, whereas corporate clients lay off big projects until vacation season ends.
So how do you know when to switch your marketing?
Let history repeat itself. If it’s happened in the past, assume it will happen again. For instance, I know from my own experience that my clients don’t start big projects in June or July. So I have to start early enough to get those assignments so that money (and work) are there in the lean months.
Review past projects. When were the larger projects rolling in? Is it because someone finally approved the budget or that the fiscal year had just begun? Try to understand the patterns that are motivating your clients and time your marketing accordingly.
Note the busy times. You know those times when you’re working on six things at once? There’s a reason for it. Someone has either a budget or an influx of work that the staff can’t handle.
Define the client. Who’s hiring you? What commonalities do they share? Is it an industry-specific anomaly or does it seem to be spread across all business? What clients hire during your slow periods? Target them two months in advance.
Do you switch up your marketing? If so, how do you know when?
5 responses to “Knowing When to Switch”
Believe it or not the effects of that earthquake were felt as far away as Atlanta,GA. One of the things my husband is originally from Los Angeles, and one of the things he likes about living in the southeast is there are no earthquakes – or WERE no earthquakes…
I do switch up my marketing pretty regularly, but it's just something I automatically do. I haven't analyzed or monitored my results carefully enough to pinpoint when to use one method over another. That's probably a flaw on my end.
Kim, I suspected you'd felt it! Seems if you were living anywhere along the east coast, it was noticeable. Heard reports from folks in Cambridge, Mass. and my own sister in Parma, Ohio.
Tracking is not my strong suit either, but it's helped me figure out why this is working now but not then, etc.
The quake was felt as far west as Illinois, too. In my town, a couple of taller, older buildings were evacuated because they were swaying and shaking just enough to worry that they might be collapsing. They only found out after the fact that is was from the Virginia quake. While my LA friends scoff at a 5.8 (or even the smaller quake we had in Illinois in 2010), a geologist was on TV last night explaining how the different kinds of plates and geology on the east coast (or midwest) means smaller quakes can feel stronger and span greater areas than the same size quake would on the west coast. Fascinating stuff.
One of my clients has two or three times a year when they tend to assign the bulk of freelance work. Luckily the editors tend to reach out to their most reliable writers before they're ready to assign. But I still keep in touch here and there – checking editorial guidelines is a great way to track when they might need extra writers for special reports.
Another client tends to have a summer slow down, but I still keep in touch to let her know I'm available should business pick up sooner than expected.
Oh – I forgot to note that there's a reason locals were afraid a building might collapse. This summer, in a town just west of us an old masonry building (probably from late 1800s or early 1900s) collapsed into a pile of rubble. No quake, no landslides, no tornado. It just caved in. Luckily, it was empty at the time.
I don't get it. How is an earthquake even possible on the east coast?!?
As for the marketing, I unfortunately can't say that if it's happened in the past I can assume it will happen again. I wish I could assume that, though.