As a franchise business owner, you may be wondering if SEO is really worth your time and money. After all, SEO can be a complex and ever-changing landscape. However, there are some very good reasons why SEO should be a vital part of your marketing strategy during a recession – even more so than during prosperous times. Here are 8 reasons why:
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1. People are searching for deals
One of the first things people do when they feel a recession coming on is start looking for ways to save money. This means they are more likely to search for deals, discounts, and coupons online. A trusted noted that if you optimize your website and content for these types of searches, you will be able to capture some of this increased traffic – and potential customers.
2. Franchises are resilient
Franchises have been shown to be more resilient during downturns than other types of businesses. This is likely due to the fact that franchises have established brand recognition and customer base, which gives them a bit of a buffer during tough times. However noted, this resilience can quickly disappear if franchisees don’t keep up with their SEO efforts.
3. Franchises need to stand out
In any economic climate, but especially during a recession, it’s important for franchises to stand out from the competition. After all, there are usually many other businesses offering similar products or services. SEO can help you make sure your franchise is the one that comes up first in search results, which can give you a significant advantage.
4. SEO can be cost-effective
Compared to other marketing channels, SEO can be quite cost-effective, especially if you do it yourself or use an affordable This is important during a recession when every marketing dollar counts and you may need to cut back in other areas.
5. Local SEO is more important than ever
During a recession, people are often looking to save money by patronizing local businesses rather than national brands. This means that if you optimize your website for local search, you could see a significant increase in traffic and customers.
6. Optimize for mobile
More and more people are using their mobile devices to search for businesses and products, even during a recession. In fact, optimizing for mobile should be a priority for all businesses, but it’s especially important during an economic downturn.
7. Keep your content fresh
One of the best things you can do for your SEO during a recession (or any other time) is to keep your content fresh. A company mentioned that this means regularly publishing new, high-quality content that is relevant to your target audience. Not only will this help you rank better in search results, but it will also keep people coming back to your website.
8. Don’t neglect SEO
Even if you are cutting back on other marketing efforts during a recession, don’t make the mistake of neglecting your SEO. Doing so could cause you to lose ground to your competition and make it even harder to recover when the economy improves.
These are just a few of the reasons why SEO is so important for franchise business owners during a recession. By following these tips, you can help ensure that your franchise remains visible and successful – no matter what the economic climate may be.
2. Find your most profitable activities and double down on them
Often times in a thriving market, we can become complacent. Sometimes we allow our employees to pursue different types of activities — some profitable, some not. Going into a recession is a great time to do an audit of our employees’ activities and get a very clear understanding of what’s most profitable.
Let’s say you’re a roofing contractor and you’ve been experimenting with different types of marketing. Doing an audit of these marketing techniques and doubling down on the most profitable is one of the best ways to streamline your business. An example would be if you have an employee who’s been focusing on writing articles for your blog in hopes of helping your SEO, but the fruits of their labor aren’t being productive and you also have teams of employees doing cold outreach door-to-door, which is extremely effective. Shift your efforts over completely from any sort of SEO to cold outreach door-to-door.
While this may seem obvious to many business owners, we often find extraneous expenses in our client’s books. When questioned about them, it becomes obvious that the fat can be trimmed, but oftentimes, there is so much going on for a business owner or manager of hat small things are overlooked. Focus on the most profitable parts of your business during a recession and when the economy turns again, you’ll be even better set up for success.
Emphasize delivery, client retention and referrals
Happy customers create more business. Repeat and referral important in a recession. Ensuring that your clients are happy is vital in any economy but especially in a recession. When money gets tight, everyone looks for ways to cut expenses as I talked about above.
A recession is a great time in order to ensure client satisfaction. Sometimes when the economy changes, so do your client’s needs. Utilizing this opportunity to discover any additional or change in the pain points of your customer can lead to
