Ramping up marketing efforts can ensure that a business going through a sales slump can strike back and hit gold. For this to happen the right approach must be adopted.
Every business measures its success on its sales figures. While many may argue that sales alone cannot determine the viability of a product or service, it also cannot be denied that such figures offer an insight on how well an organization is connecting with its customers. Slump in sale gives all businesses nervous breakdowns and puts organizations in hot soup. Prolonged downward trend may spell doom which is why it is important that you go to the root of the problem and take necessary steps at the right time.
There is no denying the fact that every business is different and operates with varying goals and visions. Marketing strategies also vary, product and services differ while customer demography, reach, service can all be considered variables. For a business to run smoothly, all these variables must work in tandem with one another.
But, does that happen all the time? You may think it does though your sales figures may indicate otherwise. Slump in sale is often a result of complacency, of not paying attention to detail. This is a mistake every business owner should avoid.
Can a sales slump be fixed? Of course, it can be done. As a business owner you need to start looking for reasons that resulted in a decline in sales. But above all you need to improve your marketing efforts. It goes without saying that marketing is the backbone of a business. It is marketing that ensures all parts of the machinery are well-oiled and running smoothly. Good marketing efforts also ensure that you can fix a sales slump before things get murkier and messy. You can salvage your business from bankruptcy by taking necessary actions at the right time. Below we shall be talking about 9 ways through which the right marketing efforts can fix a sales slump.
#1 Take a Look Back At Your Marketing Plan
When sales are down and your marketing team needs to take actions, the first thing that should be done is take a look back at previous marketing plans. Every business makes quarterly/yearly marketing plans which they implement, assess and finally move on. But when sales are down you must revisit those old plans. Taking a look back at the old plans will not only remind you of some great ideas but will also help you reconsider a few ideas that didn’t materialize at an earlier time. Often times you would be surprised to see how old ideas help in marketing your brand effectively, even in difficult times.
It is also worthwhile to revisit past marketing plans and chart their progress over a period of time. This will further help you understand how well your plans have worked in the past, what worked and what didn’t.
#2 Don’t Abandon Your Messaging Skills
Businesses often fall into the trap of forgetting the importance of messaging. More often than not, they write a great message, publish it widely and then conveniently forget all about it. This is something you should NOT do, no matter what! You cannot forget your messages neither can you forget why you started posting them in the first place. If you were writing crisp messages while launching a new product or service, well done! But what about now when sales are going down? Should you forget the promotional impact of those messages?
Remember why you felt that messaging was necessary in the first place? You needed to connect with your audience. You wanted them to know that you have launched a new product or service, isn’t it? But you must realize that your audience needs to be re-told about the same products and services from time to time, especially when there is a slump. Do not write, post and simply forget.
If you don’t have anything new to say, repeat the old messages. Your audience needs to hear and read your messages more than once. Repost the value propositions in all targeted mediums.
#3 Give Your Website a Thorough Perusal
One of the important facets of marketing in today’s time is digital marketing. The foundation of digital marketing is a solid website. While this isn’t something new that needs to be told to a marketer, what is important to note is that during a slump, giving the website a thorough perusal is necessary, and often times helpful.
This primarily means scanning the website thoroughly and making changes accordingly. There are a few things that must be kept in mind while scanning the website.
- Any revamped message must be updated and put in the frontline for everyone to see. It should be the first thing a visitor sees.
- A must-have (if your website doesn’t have one already) is an opt-in form. Such forms are very helpful. They can help you get the email address of everyone who visits your website. To ensure that everyone fills the form, offer a freemium ensuring free and timely updates from your end.
- Make it easy for people to contact you. Be reachable, be accessible. Display your email address, phone number and physical business address on the home page (and every other page).
- If your website doesn’t have testimonials, it is a good time to include them. Ask your loyal customers, clients and business associates to write testimonials for you. Add them to your website to increase traction.
#4 Aggressively Bolster Your Social Media Activities
There is not a better time than a sales slump to show the world that you are not beaten but are indeed alive and kicking! If until now you have not been very active on social media, this is just your opportunity to boost your social media activities. Log in to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter and Instagram, keep these accounts updated. Post interesting updates about your business, products and services and connect with your audience directly.
There is enough research to indicate that people today prefer to check a brand’s social media presence and viability before trusting it. A prospective customer is more likely to click on a Facebook page link than an official website link.
Few things that you can post on your social media platforms are –
- Talk about your company’s policies and employment opportunities
- Tell the world about your CSR activities
- Connect with your customers directly by sharing their stories
- Highlight some of the bestselling products and services
- Give tips on your products and services
- Create polls to interact with your customers in real-time
- Write blog posts and create vlogs
In truth this list is not exhaustive. You can and should go creative while using social media platforms.
#5 Launch A Well-Planned Promotional Campaign
One of the important tenets of marketing is promotion. Businesses often make the mistake of thinking that when sales are down, it is best to cut down on marketing efforts, specifically promotional campaigns. But in reality, just the opposite should be done. Active promotional campaigns helps boost sales.
You can target your promotional campaign around a particular aspect of your business that will have the most appeal during these tough times. If you are wary of spending too much money, you can promote without empting your coffers by –
- Opting for email promotions
- Social media promotions
- Contests on social media for increased traction
- Advertising on various online platforms
- Short radio ads
- Website blitz
- Ads on local newspapers and magazines
- Direct mails to leads and customers
- Blogs, blogs and more blogs!
#6 Connect With Your Lead
When there is a sales slump it means you have time in your hands. Use it wisely. This is just the right time for you to connect with your leads and follow up on their interests. If until now you have been collecting email addresses, business cards of prospective leads but never really acted upon them, this is the time to do so.
You can start by simply mailing them about your business and then create a follow-up routine. Make sure that your communication is consistent so that you are able to turns leads into customers sooner than later.
#7 Brainstorm with Your Team
There is no problem that cannot be solved when heads come together, ideas are exchanged and plans are formulated. Get your team together at this crucial juncture, ask them to come up ideas to salvage the business and you would be surprised at the outcome.
From revisiting old campaigns to planning new ones, a lot of ideas can float in team meetings.
#8 Do Things Old-School Way – Publish a Press Release
While connecting with customers on a personal level is a good initiative, you must never forget media and its effectiveness. That’s why we suggest you to publish a press release. Let that be picked up by your local (and even national) media. If you feed news media with information, you can be sure that it will reach your audience too.
There are several things you can mention in the press release.
- Talk about your new products or services
- Inform about your recruitment drives
- Illustrate on your company expansions
- Inform about upcoming events
#9 Plan a Reactivation Program
A reactivation program is primarily something that makes you look back at your past leads, their buying habits, customer profiles etc. Many times, especially when business is doing well you don’t need to study usage patterns or buying behavior. But when sales are low, you need to revisit your old data and retrieve what is still useful.
Try to draw a behavioral pattern that will help you plan a reactivation program. When was the last time a customer bought your product or service? How many times have they opened your emails? How many times did they respond to the emails? How much does an average customer spend on your business? Understanding these things will help you reconnect with your customers which will further drive your sales.
Conclusion
When sales are down and nothing seems to be working, you must tighten your seatbelts and get to work. You cannot become lackadaisical and just allow things to go from bad to worse. A sales slump isn’t the end of the world and every business has to face it. Your business will truly mature when you successfully see through a tough time and emerge victorious.
But we realize that it isn’t easy to wade through such trying times alone. You will need expert opinion. This is where we come in. At Cyrusson we are not just a team of marketing professionals keen to help businesses reach the next level (we undoubtedly do that too!), but we continuously strive to help out businesses who are weathering tough times. We offer our years of marketing expertise to ideate, analyze and create marketing activities that can best fix a sales slump.
We forge the way forward with our multi-pronged marketing strategies. We believe in not relying on just a single marketing strategy but to forge forward in multiple directions. After all marketing is all about exploring different avenues, connecting with customers at various levels and generating leads who can successfully be converted into customers. We believe in offering solutions that have a long-term impact. We understand every business is different and deserves to be treated differently. That’s why we will have a dedicated team for your business solutions.
We offer various marketing solutions that are tailor-made to suit every business needs. We offer:
- Online Ad campaigns
- Business listings management
- Reputation management services
- Social media marketing
- Website development
- Search Engine Optimization
- Business strategy and development
- Content marketing and creation
- Brand development solutions
- Email marketing campaigns
- Digital presence audit + strategy plan
- Landing page creation
The possibilities are endless and your next growth curve is waiting for you. Get in touch with us today and we shall be happy to help you.