As a business owner, a pandemic is never something that is factored into your roadmap and in fact, it isn’t something that any of us could have anticipated. Regardless of whether you are a key worker, working remotely or have had to close your doors temporarily, there is no denying that all businesses are going to be impacted by the coronavirus outbreak in one way or another. However, while at first, the uncertainty of our current situation can be incredibly daunting, there are ways in which you can keep yourself afloat. In fact, with meticulous planning and by using this lockdown period to your advantage, you can come out the other end stronger than ever.
Surviving The Pandemic & Growing Stronger Than Ever
When faced with a pandemic, it’s human nature to go into panic mode – hence the overload on toilet roll stockpilers – but this needn’t be the case. Across the globe, we’re all in the same situation at the moment, and while it most definitely isn’t ideal, we are going to be stuck indoors for the next few weeks, perhaps even months, and therefore it’s vital to use this time wisely. Over the past few weeks, as a business, even we have had to adapt very quickly to the situation and working from home for the first time.
With this in mind, we are ensuring that now more than ever, we are on hand to provide our clients with as much support as they need to power through the uncertainty and build their brand. So, we have put together some key information on the following:
- Keeping Your Business Active During Lockdown
- How You Can Save Your Business Money
Keeping Your Business Active During Lockdown
As the coronavirus outbreak is now a pandemic, one of the biggest fears amongst business owners is that it will kickstart another economic crisis. If we think back to the great recession of 2008 that carried through to 2013, there was an article posted by The Telegraph that stated that as many as 50 small businesses were closing every day. Why? Well, there are many different reasons, the most obvious being a lack of profit but also because they limited their marketing efforts. As soon as companies noticed that their budget had been limited, marketing became one of the first activities to be cut. However, while this may have solved a short-term problem, it did mean that when they started to see an end to the crisis, they had no new leads, no new clients and, therefore, no new gains. Their business had fallen into the category of “forgotten about” companies, meaning that although the economy did improve, they were unable to survive.
Taking this into consideration, it is now more important than ever to push your marketing efforts and think outside of the box to ensure that your business continues to thrive. A massive chunk of your target market is now stuck at home with nothing better to do than to search the web or scroll through their social media channels. So, use this to your advantage and here’s how:
Build Brand Awareness
Business owners have the busiest of schedules; however, being forced to take some time out gives you the perfect opportunity to boost brand awareness. Google has seen a considerable spike in internet users in the past few weeks, along with all social media channels, which have been busier than ever, so why not use this to get your voice heard? Whether it may be posting on your Facebook page, sharing photos on Instagram, uploading blog posts or case studies, all content is guaranteed to have higher engagement than ever. People have the time to sit down and read your latest article or browse through the before and after photos of your case studies, so this is a fantastic time to maximise the potential of your marketing campaign.
Create Engaging Social Content
Delivering compelling content is always vital, but more so when, as a nation, we are faced with an incredibly daunting few months ahead. If you are able to provide your followers with lighthearted content that uplifts their mood, then you will become a sense of support during the lockdown, leaving a lasting brand impression. We can work with you to find new ways to put a smile on the faces of your followers, whether this may be through sharing videos, helpful articles or eye-catching promotional imagery. You could even consider sharing content that will help to ease stress over this tricky period based on your industry. Regardless of the route that you choose, every post needs to create a sense of community, and that’s what we’re here to do!
Find New Leads
There is absolutely no reason why you cannot generate new leads during the pandemic, even if you have been forced to close in the meantime. This is the perfect time to implement an email marketing campaign, which focuses on directly targeting potential customers and clients.
We can almost guarantee that everyone will agree when we say that our inbox has never been so full of companies offering discounts or inviting you to take part in their campaigns. It was only today that Beauty Bay sent out an email launching the #FullFaceFriday campaign, encouraging their subscribers to order new makeup products and create a look that could be shared online. Even Ticketmaster who, although they have had to deal with millions of cancelled shows and events, is staying active by creating playlists and quizzes for their subscribers to enjoy while stuck at home. Through sending out regular emails, you can ensure that even when your doors are closed, you’re still attracting new leads, ready for when you reopen.
Show Off Your Expertise
If you have worked with Gud Ideas for a while, then you would most definitely have been sent the weekly reminder to send over a case study or success story. While this may, at first, just seem like extra content to share, it is, in fact, one of the most effective ways to show off your expertise. As mentioned above, your key audience is spending hours searching online for things they want to do or buy once the pandemic is over, so be sure to make yourself seen. In sharing case studies or success stories filled with ideas, you are providing potential customers or clients with inspiration, making them eager to turn their interest into a conversion.
Stay Consistent
The key to ensuring that all of the above techniques prove beneficial is to stay consistent. If you are posting on social media more than ever, then so will your competitors, so it’s essential to ensure that you do not get lost in the evergrowing feed. We recognise that it can be tricky to juggle posts, which is why we have a host of scheduling tools on hand, which allow us to plan ahead, ensuring that your channels are updated with fresh, unique content on a daily basis.
How You Can Save Your Business Money
Although continuing your marketing campaign during COVID-19 is of utmost importance, there are a few ways that we have been recommending to clients to save money – the first is pausing Google AdWords. While running AdWords does provide an excellent return on investment, they are ideal for businesses who require work on a short-term basis. For example, if you are quiet for the next few weeks and want to fill gaps, running ad campaigns is perfect for this. However, if you have had to close until further notice, it would be more beneficial to stick to your SEO and social media strategies. You will then be able to save a considerable chunk of money that would otherwise have been wasted on clicks for bookings that you may not be able to accommodate.
While on the subject of social media, we’ve also been advising clients to avoid running sponsored posts on their channels and again, focusing on general marketing. Instead of publishing just one post that you will run as a paid ad for the next few weeks, it would be more advantageous for us to schedule daily posts to boost your brand awareness. This will also apply to other forms of paid promotions such as radio advertisements and newspaper columns.
Let’s Get Through This Together!
We hope that we’ve been able to ease the stress a little and give some guidance on how to power through the next few months. From one business to another, we most definitely feel the pressure of tackling the impact of COVID-19, but it is something that we can use to become stronger. As always, our team are on hand to bring any ideas that you may have to life and will work with you to ensure that your company survives the pandemic!