5 Content Marketing Tips for Tough Financial Times

In-house and freelance writers are all asking the same question…

…what should I do now?

I get it. I do. As I talked about last week, this is a time of tremendous uncertainty. We don’t know how long this will last. We don’t know what it will mean to our income. Heck, we may not even be able to work in our “normal” office or enjoy a “normal” schedule anymore.

Everything feels up in the air. And that’s because it is.

Having said that, there are things that you can control right now. In fact, this time could (weirdly) be a huge opportunity.

Let’s talk about five things you can do.

Get yourself (virtually) out there

You know that confused, “what should I do next?” feeling you have? Your clients and prospects feel the same way. They are looking for a thought leader (like you!) to connect them with others and to help them navigate this weird time. 

One way to do this is by thinking about how you can help and serve your market. For instance, I wrote a LinkedIn post asking people to comment if they’re looking for writing jobs. The post is trending for #copywriting, it’s been reshared 24 times with over 2,500 views, and it’s brought together a community of freelancers.

That’s pretty darn cool.

You have a choice right now. You can choose to be THE person your customers can turn to during this weird time. Or, you can choose to hide in the shadows and wait until it’s over. 

What do you want to do?

Work on your value proposition

It’s easy to sell products or services when the economy is good. When resources dry up, so do sales — unless you know how to adapt.

NOW is the time to review your value proposition and make sure it’s still relevant for today’s new world. That may mean overhauling your sales copy to reflect the current times. It may mean changing the voice of your site so it’s more conversational. (Pro tip: people want to read personal-sounding copy right now.) It may even mean hiring someone who can see your site and content with fresh eyes — and show you how to fix it.

Pretty much every site out there can do something. Now is a great time to start.

If you’re a freelancer, consider building your skill set, revamping your site, and taking some online courses. No, it doesn’t have to be one you purchase from me. :) Just anything that helps show clients that you are the one-stop solution they need. 

OYDCP!

What does OYDCP stand for? Optimize your damn content, people! Although that seems like a no-brainer statement in a blog post about SEO writing, there are a lot of folks out there who haven’t taken this step.

News flash: you are out of excuses. Driving Google traffic is one way you can drive leads and make sales. It could even make the difference between making enough to make payroll or putting it on your line of credit. If you’ve avoided learning how to optimize your site or blog post because it feels “too geeky” and you’re not ready, get over it. Especially since there are so many people out there who can help you.

Get more mileage out of your existing content

Are you trying to squeeze every drop of ROI you can out of your content? Instead of reinventing the wheel and writing new content, why not repurpose the content you have? For instance,

• You can add transcripts to the bottom of podcasts or videos. That’s great for Google — and great for people (like me) who hate watching videos.
• You can turn blog posts into an e-book.
• You can pull pieces of content from your blog posts and turn them into email copy.

The possibilities are endless! Here’s how to find easy content opportunities.

Review your social posts and sales emails

Raise your hand if you’ve recently seen an email that made you think, “Ouch, that seems a little tone deaf considering the current times.” Guess what, Mr. “let me help you with your IT solutions” dude — most folks are worried about their businesses right now. Not their VPN.

This doesn’t mean that you can’t sell or market right now. Just…be smart. Showing stock art photos of large groups standing around a computer monitor is dumb. Pushing for a meeting during a time when companies are trying to keep their staff employed is dumb. Pretending that it’s business-as-usual during a global pandemic is dumb.

As a side note, I just saw the first COVID-19-inspired commercial from Cadillac. Check out their “We have your back” ad. Personally, I can’t imagine dropping the funds for a brand-new Cadillac right now…but I’m not their target market. And if I was, I’d appreciate how I wouldn’t have to leave my house to buy a car.

Your readers and customers are watching you. Do you want to be known as the helpful company who brought people together? Or the slimeball who responds to every LinkedIn invitation with a canned, “let’s set up a a 20-minute time to chat about your financial needs” message.

I know what I want my legacy to be during this time. How about you?

What do you think?

Do you also want to scream, “Don’t you get it?” to all the spammers out there? How are you serving your audience during this challenging time? Leave a comment and let me know!