On the Hook: Fishing for Contracts through COVID

By Nicholas Raphael

There’s a silver lining to the COVID cloud. The times may have changed, but the tools to win haven’t. Digital marketing has become the biggest source of new business. You already know this. But how do you make the most of it during ‘unprecedented’ and uncertain times? Whether in lockdown or not, your business must become bait and your activity a lure in itself.

Square One: Digital Marketing

It all starts with the basics. The upside to cliches is that experience has proven them true. Remember all those digital marketing strategy documents you wrote before you got snowed under? Make the time to dig them up, sit down, and have a fresh look. Does your market research still ring true? Is your target market still the same? Is your offering as relevant now as when you started?

Be brave, and face those questions again. We did, and we were surprised by what we found. We discovered that clients don’t want the hubris of a cumbersome, old-school agency. Work-From-Home has blurred 9 to 5, and for better or worse, our clients don’t mind if we wear pyjamas but they want round-the-clock agility. Before even considering how to reach new clients through digital marketing, we had to revise what market we were aiming for in the first place. And revise it again. Do today’s digital clients want a specialist? Or a one-stop-shop? Or both?

Widen the Net

Of course the answer is: They want it all. And we know we can give it to them, determined to turn the platitudes about customer service into a real product, for the real world. Through our digital marketing approach, last month we won a massive contract – and an exciting one at that. Time has proven that there is a market for a digital agency that is both specialist and agile. But how did we get there? And how can you?

Starting with our finished product – superlative imagery – we worked our way back down the sales funnel, applying the rules of digital marketing at every step. How do we convert leads into clients? A streamlined inquiry landing page on our website. How do we turn site visitors into leads? By publishing engaging content relevant to what they need. And how do we get them to the website to begin with? By publishing intriguing hooks to our social media, and tailoring our Google ads to the keywords our potential clients are searching for. In this way, having perfected the finished product, we then perfect every step on the path to convert a visitor to a client.

Many businesses already assess their digital marketing approach regularly. But why is it suddenly so important to re-consider your pitch? Because COVID can disrupt an analogue business – but it can’t disrupt a digital one. Not in the office? Not a problem – the real office was already online to begin with.

Fish in a Barrel

By now you’re probably suspicious. Why perfect your bait, if there aren’t any fish? Why perfect my digital marketing sales funnel, when there aren’t any leads?

You’d be spot on – if that were true. But the fact is, if you aren’t getting leads, it’s not because they don’t exist. It’s because someone else is better at getting them than you. While demand can grow and shrink – sometimes massively – it can never disappear entirely. There is always going to be someone, somewhere, looking for your product. So no matter how few the fish or how large the barrel, all you need to do is widen your net with digital marketing.

There is always going to be someone, somewhere, looking for your product. So no matter how few the fish or how large the barrel, all you need to do is widen your net with digital marketing.

All images and content are from our team
here at Studio Nero.

Articles & Design Blog

THE THINGS THAT KEEP US TICKING

Can Lightning Strike Twice? My Latest Archibald Entry

On the Hook: Winning Contracts through COVID

Lock Down, Buckle Up.

Let’s Work Together

TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR PROJECT

At Studio Nero, we combine limitless creativity with down-to-earth problem solving. We focus on your needs with a streetwise savvy that pays scrupulous attention to both quality and economy. We listen to you, to establish a creative, empathetic and strategic direction, for maximum impact with your target audience.

Our success is about fostering relationships, and client success with Studio Nero is very much a testament to the mutual respect we share with our suppliers, who always go beyond the call of duty to deliver excellent results that our clients keep coming back for.

LET’S TALK