Write to Market Your Biz in a Downturn
During this (and every other) economic downturn, properly managing cash flow will be critical to your business' survival. Sloppy practices that were fine during the good years can kill a company as sales slacken and credit suddenly becomes scarce. Budgets from IT to marketing are often slashed to keep the company afloat.
The good news is your marketing efforts don't have to stop completely just because the cash flow has become a trickle. Writing is one thing you can do for FREE to market your business during a downturn.
Write to showcase your expertise to potential customers.
Start a blog on your company's website or write guest articles where potential customers will see it. Use your knowledge and experience to help potential customers, and they will flock to your products.
If you've been thinking about starting a blog on your site, do it today. WordPress is free open-source blogging software that takes 5 minutes to install (even for non-techies), has a ton of great looking free templates, and is easy to use and maintain. Blogger is also a good choice for its ease-of-use, cost (free!), and nice designs. If you don't have your own website, both Blogger and WordPress offer "hosted" solutions so you can get a blog up at yourcompanyname.blogspot.com or yourcompanyname.wordpress.com.
If you don't want to commit to running your own blog -- it does require a long term commitment to creating fresh new articles fairly regularly -- you can write for other websites. Many blogs and magazines accept guest articles, and will not only give you full credit, but will also give you a short blurb and link back to your online store. Here are two articles that contain good tips for successful guest blogging:
I disagree with a small point in the second article. I don't think you need to be invited first. If you email bloggers an already written, but not published anywhere, article that would be extremely useful to their readers, many will be thankful for the fresh insight and gladly give your article some space. The key is to be mindful of their readers. Nobody want to publish a marketing press release, but helpful articles are golden. If they say "no thanks", send it to the next blog on your list.
It doesn't take any money to write 500-1000 words that will help you get a few new customers. I recommend 500-1000 words because that's enough space to be authoritative but not so long that nobody reads it.
Talking to the world via your writing won't cost you a dime but does require a little commitment to be effective. You'll get out what you put in, and since you're not putting any money in, you should be putting in a concerted effort. A half-hearted effort will yield no return.
Here are a few more articles on writing for your business:
- 5 Tips for Effective Web Writing
- Our Collection of Articles on Blogging For Profit
- Business Copywriting 101
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