I look at B2B websites all the time, and I noticed a recent trend – an increasing number have copy up pertaining to the recession, hard times, etc.
Now, I can see where this makes sense. Personally, as a copywriter, I like to think my services help protect against declining sales, etc. So I figured maybe I should mention something like that too, and started to get to work inserting a “look, times are hard, so you need good copywriting, blah blah blah…” paragraph onto my homepage.
You know, as I was writing it, it just felt “wrong”. I’m not about doom and gloom – I’m about raising sales and the like. But I put it up on my site… and took it down a week later. It’s just soooo not me.
I realize some businesses use recession and “hard times” in their copy, but I’m really wondering how effective this is. To me, it’s barely above telling a customer “I know you don’t have much money, but…” I want my copywriting site to convey many messages, but reminding people of the economy is NOT one of them. Listen, businesspeople KNOW the pulse of the economy. And if they are at my site, I want them to come away with something positive, not negative.
I have no data to back this up, but I’m betting in terms of B2B, things like “recession pricing” “recession deals” “recession special” don’t sway people.
Just my .02 anyway.
Again, nothing research based to back this up, but I’m with you on this.
I spend time pitching my writing services to people as a way to solve their problems, and I don’t think it’s a great idea to remind them of problems that I can’t fix,and that might make them more reluctant to spend than they already are.
I like to focus on giving clients value for their money and that seems to be something that works;rather than offering “recession” deals or whatever, let’s squeeze as much real value out of your marketing dollar as we can.
And it means I can be cheery, problem solving me instead of gloomy penny-pinching me. Win-win!
I’ve wondered about this. I see a lot of people using the recession as an excuse. “Oh since the economy is so bad, are you offering discounts?” Nope. Cuz my business is growing.
Alison said it better than I could. Remind people what you can do, not what to be afraid of.
That’s a smart way of thinking about it.