The Economy is Struggling: How do SEO Marketers Respond?

Author: April Hall

Copywriter

Turn on the news, and you’ll soon learn that the American economy is struggling mightily. Home values are plummeting, unemployment is skyrocketing, energy prices are through the roof and the government is building a deficit faster than clocks can keep up with it. Is it any wonder that businesses are struggling to keep their profits up and are having to cut operating expenses in order to simply stay afloat? When the economy is in such bad shape, what’s an SEO marketing company to do in order to encourage their clients to keep ordering services and trusting their marketing firm to target new clients?

Short of begging clients to stay, there are many steps you SEO marketers can take to demonstrate their value to their account holders who may be wary of continuing to pay these types of advertising expenses. The most important thing you can do to reassure your clients is to provide on time, high quality customer service that they will not be able to find with a bargain basement SEO company. You want your clients to feel as if they may be paying more for your services, but it is well worth it for the quality of the investment return.

Other measures you can take to hold and grow your client base, even when the economy is faltering, include:

• Offering long-standing clients special package deals. Sometimes a business will need to sacrifice a few dollars along the way in order to increase their earnings later on. If you have some clients that have been loyal customers for quite some time, offering them a great deal or a special package may encourage them to tell other businesses about your SEO marketing services.
• Experimenting with new services. You may never have tried to offer your clients blogging services before; but many SEO marketers do offer this services. To keep your customers from looking elsewhere for more extensive marketing services, try to branch out and offer some innovating social media and social networking packages. It might take a bit of training for your employees, but learning new skills is never a waste of time.
• Increase your own advertising budget. Your businesses likely has the same temptation that your clients have: when times are tough, the first reflex is to cut down on operating expenses, which may mean reducing advertising. Resist the urge to drastically reduce your advertising! You have to keep your SEO marketing firm’s name out there in order to reach new clients and improve your brand. Instead of reducing advertising, search for innovative ways to more closely target potential customers.

As our country struggles together to dig our way out of this economic mess, let’s remember that the economy is always going to have ebbs and flows. Improving your business practices can help you create a strong, vibrant SEO firm that is able to withstand these times and come out even stronger when the economy eventually improves.