How to market when business sucks 🙃
“How’s business going?”
A friend asked me this yesterday. My response:
“Honestly, it kinda sucks.”
It’s a dry season for client work. Local businesses are tightening their budgets. The economy is whack. And the world as a whole kinda feels like it’s falling apart.
But I’m not here to bum you out. As I’ve talked to fellow entrepreneurs, friends, and mentors, I've actually heard some glimmers of hope:
“You’re not alone — it’s a tough season for lots of businesses rn”
“This is temporary”
“I was in your shoes 3 years ago, and now my business is hitting 7 figures/year”
It's getting me out of my “I’m a failure and I’m going to go broke and die” mindset...
And shifting my thinking to: “What can I do with the cards I’m dealt right now?”
That shift has helped me come up with some cool ideas for my business, my clients, and myself as a person. So in case you’re in the same boat, I want to share ‘em with you.
What can you do when things aren’t working?
As entrepreneurs, feeling stuck is a rite of passage.
I don’t have a magic-bullet solution (although that’d be awesome). But I can help with the content/marketing side of things.
Specifically, these 3 areas that can help you get un-stuck:
Getting back in touch with your goals
Getting back in touch with your audience
Getting back in touch with yourself
3 ways to make marketing work when you feel stuck
Those three points I mentioned above can help you break out of whatever mental block you’re facing — whether it’s in business, in life, or in the world as a whole.
Here’s how:
#1 — Get back in touch with your goals
When you’re in the weeds of your business and marketing, it’s easy to get caught up in the details and forget the big picture. That’s when you start to feel scattered and overwhelmed.
To fix that, get out a piece of paper and start jotting down answers to these questions:
What problem am I here to solve?
Am I solving it?
Is there a better way to do it?
Do my offers match my financial goals?
Do I need to reevaluate my end-of-year strategies?
#2 — Get back in touch with your audience.
Getting out of the nitty-gritty details and reconnecting with the people you serve can make a huge difference.
So give yourself a chance to talk face-to-face with at least one person in your audience — at a networking event, a client call, a virtual coffee chat, anything.
Then go back to your paper and add your answers to these questions:
What do I love most about my audience?
Have their needs or situations changed?
What do they need that they aren’t getting?
How can I provide more support?
How can I make their lives easier?
#3 — Get back in touch with yourself.
This one is the most important… and the most difficult. But you don’t need an earth-shattering Eat, Pray, Love experience to do it.
You started your business for a reason, and you know why it’s important to you. That’s what will motivate and inspire you more than anything else.
So pull out your paper for one last round of questions:
Why did I start this business?
Am I gaining what I want from it?
If not — how can I change that? And if so — how can I get even more from it?
How am I spending my time? Is there a better, smarter, or more fulfilling way to spend it?
What does my dream end-result look like, and what steps can I take now to get there?
Getting all this on paper will help you organize your thoughts and shed light on the bigger picture.
Once you’re done, you might notice some new opportunities. Maybe a new offering, angle, audience segment, or something else you haven’t thought of yet.
And at the very least, you’ll walk away with a new sense of motivation, confidence, and excitement for what’s next.
This article was originally shared in my embarrassing, brutally-honest newsletter: Sloppy Copy.
If you want to get totally-transparent copywriting lessons like this every week, pop in your email to join the party. 👇
