Pooja, the owner of a small digital marketing firm, faced a significant revenue drop during the COVID-19 lockdown due to client cancellations and reductions. To recover, she diversified services, supported her team's skill development, and re-engaged clients with offers and promotional content. As a result, she successfully reinstated a client, acquired new ones, and improved revenue by 11% by June 2020.

1. SMALL BUSINESS CASE
STUDY

2. Pooja is the owner of a small digital
marketing firm.
A small team of 4 employees to manage
sales, client servicing, content writing,
designing and digital marketing
7 clients
Revenue model: retainership fee

3. Services Offered
Content writing (blog, social media
posts and articles)
Managing PPC campaigns
Email newsletters
Social media management

4. Due to the slowdown during the Covid-19 lockdown:
3 clients cancelled the agreement citing low sales and
reduction in new leads as a reason
1 client decided to put the engagement on hold.
Activities to be restarted after the lockdown is
completely lifted
Problem Statement

5. IMPACT
Pre Lockdown During Lockdown
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
Pre Lockdown During Lockdown
400,000
300,000
200,000
100,000
0
COST REVENUE
Pre-Lockdown Post Lockdown Pre-Lockdown Post Lockdown
200K
180K 350K
150K
Monthly revenue
reduced by almost
60%
Only 10% reduction in
cost as employees
started working
remotely

6. How can Pooja get
her business back on
track?

7. This is what she
did....

8. Diversified her services and
enhanced team skills
Hired one experienced resource for creating
better quality video content
Sponsored online skill development courses for
current team. Added certification status on
company website for building client trust
Partnered with a third party vendor for providing
chatbot as a service to existing and new clients

9. Offered complementary services
and content to all existing clients
Offered complementary content to all 3 clients
who retained her company. The bonus content
was to help clients promote their company
during the lockdown
Requested video testimonials. This was used to
reach out to new clients
Asked for referrals

10. Revised offer to the remaining 4
clients to win them back
Offered the same deal to the remaining 4 clients
The 1 client who had put the engagement on hold
was offered one month free service. The client
agreed
1 out of the 3 clients who had cancelled the
agreement was back on board with a 25%
discount

11. Ensured the team stays motivated,
focused and positive
Sponsored skill development courses
No salary deductions despite the loss in revenue
Communicated with the team everyday to
update them about the revival plan, explain their
role and set expectations

12. Relentless efforts for new client
acquisition
Reached out to all old leads and referrals with
the digital marketing service package and
chatbot as a service plan
Offered a 30% discount to all clients if retainer
fee was paid annually to improve cash flow

13. IMPACT
1 out of the existing 3 clients opted for the chatbot
plan resulting in a 12% increase in retainer fee
1 client who had cancelled the agreement came back
on board
The 1 client who had decided to keep the activites on
hold was active again
Acquired 3 new clients for digital marketing in one
month via referrals and old leads
Acquired 1 new client for implementing chatbot on
their website

14. Pre
Lockdow
n
D
uring
Lockdow
n
June
2020
250,000
200,000
150,000
100,000
50,000
0
Pre
Lockdow
n
D
uring
Lockdow
n
June
2020
400,000
300,000
200,000
100,000
0
IMPACT
COST REVENUE
Pre-Lockdown
Post Lockdown
200K
180K
350K
150K
387K
230K
June 2020 Pre-Lockdown
Post Lockdown
June 2020
11% increase in
monthly
revenue
compared to the
pre-lockdown
performance
5% increase in
net profit

15. "There is an opportunity
in every crisis"
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