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3 Ways to Stay Afloat in Tough Times

By Michael Stelzner

Are things getting a little tight for your business these days?

If they are, I can relate.  Just today I found out that one of my major clients laid off four people (who were my primary contracts).  I also found out that another customer of mine cut their budget, eliminating a program I was involved with.  Yikes!!

What should we do?

The crazy variation in the stock market is a lot like being stuck on a roller coaster from hell.  Providentially, Copywriting Success Summit is going on right in the middle of this chaos (an event that helps freelance writer’s grow their businesses).

What follows are my tips to ensure the bad economy does not sink your ship:

1. Have a broad base of clients:  If a single client of yours accounts for more than 10 to 20 percent of your business, you are putting yourself at risk.  If you have a wide variety of clients, you will better weather the storm.  I average about 20 per year and it has gotten my through tough times for 14 years.

2. Do NOT stop marketing: If there’s anything you need to cut in your business, make sure it is NOT marketing.  Try cutting back on luxury items, like new equipment and travel.  Instead, double your marketing efforts.  Spend your “new found” time refocusing your website messages, your online ads and anything else you have done to help market your business in the past.

3. Treat your customers like kings and queens:  Make sure your existing clients know how much you appreciate them.  Go the extra mile to make them happy, even if it means price reductions.  Try throwing in some extra perks at no cost.  And for sure send them a small gift for the holidays.  When times are tough, people will always prefer to work with people they like.

What might you add to my list?  I’d love to hear from you…

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This entry was posted on Monday, October 13th, 2008 at 4:15 pm and is filed under Freelance Writing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.

  • In my opinion, diversification is essential. Having a broad base of clients is one form of diversification. You can also explore new opportunities by having side projects. Some of those side projects may become new sources of income.

    <abbr>Alex @ Life Coach Help's last blog post..Life Coaching on Managing Priorities</abbr>
  • Out of the many posts, this one attract my attention. I believe it is possible for anyone to make money online too.
  • One nice feature of the tough times that have shown up is that businesses have to become more customer-oriented to remain as viable suppliers. Some business practices that were fairly low quality ones are no longer enough for a business to rely upon. An increase in communication towards more individuals in one's category of business has been another side effect of this period of time.

    <abbr>Armen Shirvanian's last blog post..Ways To Respond To Events Presented To You</abbr>
  • Thanks for such great tips. I think the most essential is to treat the clients as kings and queens :)
  • It seems to me that there is great potential to marry great copy and content with the marketing engines that quantifiably generate and nurture leads. They need what you have: the ability to create compelling content.
  • Hi Michael!

    Sound advice, and timely too. On a micro-scale perhaps, I suggest that one of the quickest, easiest, handiest, networking tools around is the CommentLuv plugin for WordPress blogs - it certainly builds quality, keyword-rich back links, and therefore can only be good for networking!

    How about turning yours 'on' by default, for the benefit of those who don't see it, or don't understand it?

    cheers - Rhys

    <abbr>Rhys@monetize your site's last blog post..How To Hide Adsense From Social Traffic</abbr>
  • Good post, Michael, especially point #2. After all, what we're telling our clients is that tough times are when they should market more, not less.
    I'm doing website upgrades, etc. with my found time, but also remodeling my bathroom. I seem to be able to do good marketing thinking while tearing up old linoleum.
    Michael
    www.writingthatmeansbusiness.com
  • I might add one more: Explore partnerships. It seems to me that there is great potential to marry great copy and content with the marketing engines that quantifiably generate and nurture leads. They need what you have: the ability to create compelling content. You need what they have: the ability to measure the impact of your efforts.

    Britton Manasco
    Illuminating the Future
  • I think a lot of the strategy really comes down to finding ways to deliver value and being flexible.

    <abbr>J.D. Meier's last blog post..How To Overcome Mistrust</abbr>
  • Ntarugera François
    Mike:

    I do not think there are more than you have said except that we need to treat our customers more than that. I mean how should we turn our customers to a real friends?
    Friendship is the only gift that I personally can offer than any other smelling expensive perfume!!

    Ntarugera
  • Hi Mike,

    Great tips all. Slow times are also good times to work on personal projects like your own marketing brochures or maybe writing a book on "How to..."

    Me? I'm currently redesigning my website and streamlining my business. Then it is as you say: back to advertising my services!

    ~Graham
  • Great reminders, Mike. I enthusiastically agree with #2 in particular, and I advise folks to network heavily during this period. Things as simple as updating your LinkedIn connections can result in new business opportunities, and I've found that everyone is very receptive to outreach right now (since the uncertainty in the economy is requiring just about everybody to shore up their networks). Best of luck to one and all!
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