Marketers Pivot and Grow...
RENO, Nev. — Sandy Rowley was at a loss in more ways than one.
It was early April, and Rowley, founder of RenoWebDesigner.com, had just lost nearly 90% of her business.
Cash-strapped companies throughout Reno-Sparks were cutting costs due to the pandemic, and digital marketers like Rowley were left wondering how long the sales crash would last.
Sandy Rowley
“I freaked out for a little bit,” Rowley said. “There was a lot of stress, a lot of concern.”
Those feelings were quickly tampered, considering that for several weeks this spring, consumers cooped up at home could only be reached and engaged through their various digital screens.
“Watching the news, they’re saying all of the businesses are closing,” said Rowley, who specializes in SEO, social media marketing and web design. “I was like, well, they’re going to have to go online — it’s the only thing that’s going to help them right now. A lot of people and businesses realized they needed to find a way to have an online platform of some sort.”
Not long after her client base drastically shrunk, Rowley began to see more and more inquiries ping her inbox. She also cut her rates by 20% in an effort to bring back old clients and reel in new business.
“I got half of them back,” Rowley said. “But, I had to go back to the drawing board and say, ‘OK, how can I help them?’ Because if they’re not making enough money, they can’t afford me.”
Along the way, Rowley started using SEO for her business to target other large cities on the West Coast, a strategy she said has yielded more inquiries and website traffic from outside of Northern Nevada.