Clients to Target in a Bad Economy--And How to Appeal to Them.

It's all over the news--the economy is going from bad to worse. Stocks are plunging, the government is considering massive bailouts to financial institutions, and it's increasingly difficult to get a loan to start a new business, go to school or buy a home. Recently a family member looked at me sympathetically and said, "your business must really be suffering with the economic downturn."

Actually, it isn't. Copywriting is one of those businesses that can thrive even during economic downturns, if you play your cards right. The truth is that every business needs to market in good times and in bad--and they need writers more than ever to boost their bottom line. Here are a few clients to keep an eye out for in a failing economy, and how to ensure you get the job.

Resume writing firms. With all the layoffs going on, plenty of people--including C-level executives--are facing unemployment. And many of them know the value of a professionally written resume. Business for top-level resume-writing firms is booming right now, and many of them outsource their writing. Get in touch with some executive level resume-writing firms, or market on your own to individual clients.

Companies that usually do copywriting in-house. In an economic downturn, many larger companies tend to lay off and outsource wherever they can. It's bad news for in-house writers, but great news for freelancers. If you've ever been told "no" by a company because they do all their writing in-house, now is the time to get back in touch. They may have let go a lot of key writers, but that doesn't mean they need less writing done.

Entrepreneurs. You have to watch it with entrepreneurs; sometimes start-ups can be financially unstable, and I know some writers who generally don't work with them. But when the economy is winding down, many laid-off employees will be opening their own businesses. And although the economy isn't great, some of them won't be doomed to fail.

If you're going to work with entrepreneurs in an economic downturn, do a little investigation into their background. Do these people have a background in sales or in their industry that will give them strong contacts? Make sure your contract is iron-clad and consider taking 100% up front for smaller jobs. Start small with entrepreneurs to give working with them a try--if they prove to be good clients, move on to larger projects with them.

Now you know who to target--how do you make sure they hire you instead of the other guy? Here are a few suggestions.

Offer better value for the money. No, you don't have to lower your rates--in our business, it's generally not a great idea to compete as the cheap option. But make sure potential clients know that they get more from you than the other guys. Do you offer free e-books and information products along with hiring? Do you offer value-added services like marketing consultation, connections with graphic design or SEO firms, or press release submission? If you do, now's the time to emphasize those in your marketing materials.

Position yourself as the economical choice. You are cheaper than an in-house copywriter. When companies hire you they don't have to pay a salary plus health benefits, sick days and Christmas bonuses. They just have to pay the cost of the project. This enables companies to buy what they need from you and save money where they have to. This is a big selling point, especially in an economic downturn.

Put a heavy emphasis on your past success. Selling is supposedly more difficult than ever--and that means results matter. Think back on past projects and consider what you've done to help your clients--concrete facts and figures are going to be very helpful here. Did you increase response rates by 25% in your last promotion? Increase click-through rates or have articles and content go viral? Boost your company's bottom line by 50% with your website rewrite? Check with past clients to see if you can get some to give you figures like this if you don't have any on hand; these will definitely set you apart.

An economic downturn doesn't have to be bad news for your business. Emphasize how great of a deal you are by saving the company money and boosting their bottom line, and you're sure to do well no matter the state of the economy.

Finding Your Niche: Walking the Tightrope

Reading over some comments from a previous post, I've noticed that there's some confusion out there surrounding finding marketable niches. I've definitely had the same problem: I want to focus on web content and copy, but I don't want to turn away clients looking for brochures, resume rewrites, editing, video scripts, and all sorts of other fun projects. I want to build a business brand that encourages a certain type of project, but I don't want to turn away other projects.

This isn't that organized, but here are a few thoughts I have on the balance between developing a profitable niche and avoiding turning away other work.

Don't actually turn away work until you're really established. There's really no point in turning away non-niche work unless you're doing so well in your niche that taking on an outside project means turning away a more lucrative, easier niche project. Your niche is supposed to make you money, not cost you.

Concentrate on your niche in your website. Experienced niche marketers will probably tell you that you should have a different website for each niche you're breaking into. I love writing web copy and am starting to build a website that focuses on that--but I'd also like to focus on scriptwriting for radio and online video in the future, and as soon as I've gotten enough credits in that I'll think about building another website that highlights my experience there. But while you're a still a generalist with specific tendencies--like me at the moment--it's okay to have just one website that features your niche, but still includes samples and services that are outside of that.

Market aggressively within your niche. There's no other way to become known in your niche than by putting yourself out there. Focus your marketing efforts on companies and projects within your niche. If a different type of project happens to come your way, no problem--don't turn it down, especially if you have the time to do it.

Develop a specialist network. Once you're established--and even before--it can be very beneficial to form a network with other writers who specialize in different things. Once your niche work starts rolling in, you can refer outside work to colleagues who specialize--and if they get offers for projects in your niche, they'll pass the business along to you.

Content: King or Crap?

Just saw this post over on Bly's blog asking this question: "is 'Content is King' a load of crap?" Bob states that author Tim Sanders brings up an interesting point: people are too busy to actually read all that information you're offering:

There’s too much information in today’s world, and our defense mechanism to sort through it all is to vote with our gut, to vote what we feel. We look for shortcuts, and those shortcuts are called brands. The reason you buy Tide detergent at the grocery store is that you don’t want to read fifty labels. You trust Tide because you already know it works.

I had a response, but after thinking it through I realized it was longer than would be useful in a simple comment--so I decided to offer it up here. I believe in information marketing. I don't think it can be your only method of marketing, but I believe it can be highly effective--even though consumers are time-starved. Here's my response.

It depends on the type of prospect you're marketing to. Stating that content is crap is way too general to make much sense, in my opinion. Maybe the time-starved mother of three will stick to Tide rather than get crazy and try Bold because she's used it before and she likes it. But what if that time-starved mom is purchasing a new car and needs to figure out which one has the best gas mileage, is the most dependable, and is the best value for the money? Then you can bet she won't be too busy to read. Similarly if you're trying to market to managers of midsize companies, you'd better have some informational material they can use to wrap their minds around your solution--making a big business purchase requires a lot of justification to shareholders, bosses, and so on.

It really does depend on your product. You need to know who's looking for information and whether your product is likely to be a buy-on-the-fly kind of thing, or whether it requires more thought. A big purchase requires a lot of thought. A low-cost everyday necessity might be able to rely more on brand.

It depends on the type of information and where you put it. Putting a lot of "useful content" on the label of a box of Tide may not be the best move--nobody wants to stand in the grocery store for an hour and read through fifty labels. I agree with that. But if a customer goes to your website for info, you'd better have that info up there--or they'll go somewhere else. Content is more effective if you offer it where and when customers want it--whether that's on your website, at your booth at the trade show, or as a giveaway report to those who send for it.

You have to convince consumers that you're trustworthy. The problem with some examples of information marketing I've seen is that it doesn't do a good enough job of presenting the company as trustworthy. Customers are naturally suspicious of information they get from a specific company, because they assume you have an ulterior motive--to get them to buy. That's why it's so important to be impartial. Give fair and balanced information. Don't be afraid to suggest other sources of information or even other products if they might be better for customers. If a company isn't getting great results through information marketing, it may be because they're not doing a good enough job at appearing impartial.

People might be "too busy to read," but they're also brand-saturated. The article states that people are too busy to read--that they want shortcuts, and that's what a well-known brand gives them. I agree that customers don't want to stop and agonize over every little purchasing decision, and brand gives some companies an edge over others. But you build brand through advertising and presenting a coherent marketing message, and consumers are definitely getting oversaturated with marketing messages. That's why information marketing is so effective--when done right, it cuts through the advertising clutter and gives information that consumers can trust.

Information marketing isn't right in every situation. It's a tool like any other marketing tool, and it has to be used in the right way, to the right people to have the best effect. Content may not be "king" in that it's the only or most effective marketing tool out there--and it's definitely not the only thing a company should concentrate on. But I believe they ignore it at their peril.