If things start to get bumpy for your business during an economic downturn, your first instinct may be to cut costs and ride things out. However, rough waters also present a unique opportunity if you know how to navigate them effectively. 

When it comes to times of economic hardship, it’s a good idea to consider how you can improve your business without causing more problems. There are more than a few ways to improve your business during these hard times, from investing in search engine optimization and learning how to use Google Ads Manager and more. Keep reading for other tips you can use to help grow your business during these challenging times. 

Increase Service Revenue by Encouraging Customers to Extend Existing Assets

If economic times are uncertain, your new purchases and capital budget will likely slow down or freeze. At this point, your customers may want to extend the life of their current assets and generate more value out of them. 

Specific reasons to consider this strategy include:

  • Make more money
  • Fixing things that aren’t working to increase overall customer satisfaction
  • Integrate new solutions with old ones

By doing this, you also have the opportunity to work with customers to inform them about how everything works together. 

You can grow customer success, education services, professional services, support, and maintenance revenue during an economic downturn. That’s because your focus is on helping customers extend the usability and life of their existing solutions. 

The challenge is finding these customers. One way to do this is by creating and running Google local service ads. With these, you can target the area where your customers are and let them know about the new “value” you have available. Also, since most businesses will be cutting back on marketing spending, the cost to show up and CPC (cost per click) for Google display ads will be much less than what it usually is. 

Remember, your customers are also working on stretching their budget, and making the most of a former investment is a great way to do this. 

Help Your Customers Do More with Less

When many people focus on budget cuts and other money-saving methods, your customers’ focus is likely on productivity. Is your solution messaging about the amazing things your product or service offers customers? Have you created a UVP (unique value proposition) on functionality and features? 

Now it’s time to alter your messaging and show your customers how your solution is perfect for helping them do more with less. Now is the time to change your market message from what it was a few months ago. You can use Google Ad services to help with this shift and ensure the new message reaches your customers. 

Utilize Cross-Sell and Upsell Opportunities 

If your customers focus on their budget, you probably won’t encounter too many “big spenders.” When this happens, the smaller transactions can really add up. They also become more important if you have fewer large deals than usual. 

You should know that it costs more to get a new customer than to keep an existing customer and encourage them to buy again. If you want to grow your customers without overspending, you should invest in the cross-sell and upsell capabilities in place. 

Some tips to help with this include:

  • Create Google Display Ads and Other Marketing Messages for Current Customers. Make sure the offers are easy to understand. This makes them easier to close. Examples to consider include increases in features, capacity, services that add value, or insights. 
  • Get Your Customer Success Team Involved in Driving More Upsells. When your customers are happy with the interactions, services, and products you have provided in the past, they are more likely to buy again. You must focus on ensuring your customer success team is in on this strategy and taking steps to increase total upsells. 
  • Determine if You Can Make Upsells and Cross-Sells Digital. Usually, this is only possible if you offer a service. Physical products will require more than an online upsell. However, if you do this, it will be possible to make the upsells cost-effectively. 

Find Thriving Customers

When the COVID-19 pandemic occurred, e-commerce and online collaboration software became more successful than ever before. The companies helping to build the work-from-home infrastructure and networking solutions excelled. Even parts of the healthcare industry grew significantly at this time. 

Even in times of economic trouble, segments will withstand the conditions much better than others. During a recession, things may not operate as “business as usual”; however, there are some businesses that can still thrive during an economic crisis. It’s up to you to do something better than your competition to find them. 

You can’t leave your salespeople in charge of this without any help or guidance. In this case, product management needs to lead the charge. Special offers should be created for specific segments or verticals. Industry and vertical-specific expertise must also be present in your business or organization. 

You can’t leave it to your sales team to find who is thriving. They also can’t be left to create unique offers. Product management must be leading the charge and services providing backup. 

Once you have found the customers thriving, it’s up to you to figure out how your offer can make their growth even bigger and easier. This requires you to create new messaging and alter your Google ad manager settings to ensure you are reaching them. 

Create Offers Featuring Scale and Pricing Options

Take time to think like your customers. If you were making a purchase right now, would it be a large capital investment without much flexibility to adjust overall capacity? Chances are the answer is a resounding “no.” Instead, you would purchase what you must right now and expect the provider to offer flexibility regarding pricing and capacity in the future. 

You can’t expect your customers to be ready to lock into an ongoing expense. Without options and choices, they are going to go to the competition. 

Put Customer Success Teams in Charge of Renewal and Expansion 

If you have left your salespeople in charge of closing low-complexity upsells and renewals, you are using an antiquated and expensive model. If you are paying the same amount or more commission on renewal as you are new deals, it’s time to overhaul your entire model. 

When the customer success team is responsible for renewals, rather than the sales team, there’s no actual material charge in the total renewal rate. However, if the sales team has this responsibility, your growth rates will likely fall significantly. 

Also, you must pay a full commission to your salespeople for closing these easy upsells and renewals. If you want to reduce costs, this isn’t a smart strategy. By involving the customer success function, you can make these sales happen at a lower commission rate. This will save your company money while ensuring your business continues to grow. 

Creating New Marketing Messages During Economic Downturns

If things are tight, people aren’t spending as much as they used to. It’s up to you to make it clear that the product or service you are offering provides so much value that they can’t ignore it or turn it down.  

This is a challenging process, but not an impossible one. Take some time to create marketing messaging that resonates with your customers who are struggling. Once you have determined how to offer value to these businesses or customers, you can work with a Google ad specialist to create messaging for these ads. It’s important to ensure that your messaging makes it clear that what you offer will enhance their processes to ensure growth even in times of downturn. 

Working with What You Have 

When your budget is limited, it’s more important than ever before to learn to work with what you have. Take some time to look at your existing marketing efforts and evaluate what’s working and what has slowed down. It may be time to redirect your marketing budget toward the efforts that are yielding the best results. 

This may be your Google local ads or your on-site SEO. Each business is unique, so it is up to you to figure out how you can maximize profits while continuing to grow your business even when things are less than ideal. While this may seem challenging, there are plenty of professional services that can help. 

Creating Success During an Economic Downturn

While it may sound like an oxymoron, it’s not. When you utilize the right strategies and efforts, you can find success when things aren’t going as well as they did in the past. 

In many cases, utilizing the services of Google ads support teams or professionals will help with this goal. Be sure to find a reputable service provider with a track record of success to help you achieve the desired results for your goals. In the beginning, this may seem like a huge hurdle to overcome, but with the right focus and support, it doesn’t have to be. 

Keep this in mind when moving forward with your business and messaging during an economic downturn.