Covid-19 has resulted in drastic changes in human life and socio-economic culture. The virus started spreading in December 2019, has resulted in the close-down of almost every country around the globe. The world is adapting towards the unprecedented situation, yet the loss it has caused to humanity, as well as the economy, is enormous.
Countries such as the United States, Italy, and Australia have suffered severely, along with multiple other countries, resulting in an unstable economy worldwide. More than 30 billion US citizens have been unemployed since the outbreak of the pandemic, and the number doesn’t seem to stop anytime soon.
All types of businesses, including the small scale, have suffered badly due to the spread of Coronavirus. The unavailability of resources and funds have caused multiple business owners to shut their businesses temporarily or permanently.
Some of the business owners think they will eventually have to shut down if the situations continue to persist. This tough time requires a bit of adaptability and reprioritization in your business models. The following are the 5 marketing tips for your small business that you can implement.
Adapt and Adjust your Marketing Strategy
Initially, most of the countries and citizens were in denial of the severity of this situation; however, over time, people have realized how crucial a time it is. Due to this, people are now adapting to the new “normal.” The new normal includes contact-less interactions, social distancing, and minimal exposure to the outside world.
Because of this, your business strategies must alter and adjust according to the new normal. You must be considerate of your situation around and change your content accordingly. You can experiment with the content and posting. Now that the lifestyles have changed, there is a change in trends and types of content as well.
Now is the Time to Show Empathy
The world is facing a tough time, and everyone needs a little bit of kindness. It is important that you, as a brand, must provide support towards the clients and audience. Whatever scenario that you might’ve faced during the pandemic, be sure to spread positivity, strength, and awareness through your platforms.
In the previous few weeks, we have seen a massive shift in several brand’s messages, where they stopped their usual functions and started to help out the community with the COVID-19 crisis. Multiple businesses donated a part of their sales for the relief, food delivery services delivered food for free to those in need, clothing brands such as Adidas, LV, etc. started producing masks for people to stay safe.
No matter how small your cause is, be sure to spread empathy and kindness even in your content. Being blinded towards the situation is not a good strategy to follow in such circumstances.
It is important to focus on your relationship with your current customers. A relationship with your audience can help you gain customer loyalty and trust for the long term. You can stay connected with your audience through:
- Emails
- Updating website
- Informative live sessions and chat
Pivot Your Business
Pivoting your business is not easy, however, if the situation demands it, then you must think of ways how you can continue your service while being considerate. Think of ways to facilitate your clients to avail of your services during such a time.
For example, if you are a retail store, then you must shift to an e-commerce platform to facilitate the customers. You must also keep the virtual audience engaged during this time and not ghost them.
If you have introduced a new aspect to your business model, then make sure to communicate it to your audience and create content around it.
- Create an online presence if you have not already
- Build a Multi-vendor marketplace
- Share useful and relevant information
- Promote your services through social media campaigns
- Introduce people to “behind-the-scenes” of your business
Work on Marketing Strategy
The situation around the globe is unexpected, and every day is a new day. Staying aware of the current situation and working on your marketing strategies to fulfill the need of the hour is important.
Stay ahead and try to work around the new strategy to follow. For example, if you have both physical and online stores, now is the time to focus more on your online platforms, promote them, advertise them, and streamline the processes.
Take this time as an opportunity to work on your website’s SEO, ranking, visuals, and inventory management. You can also look for ways to ensure contact-less, safe, and secure delivery for your audience.
Be there for your team members and employees, and guide them towards what can be done next. Now is the time to actively take action while making smart moves. Your new strategy must depend on the type of business. However, a few suggestions are:
- Help others through your services
- Paid ads are cheap these days, make use of them
- Offer online webinars, sessions, classes
Partner With Other Business
Another strategy to follow in the times of COVID-19 is to collaborate with another business to help with the loss of sales or for a better cause. For example, partnering with a clothing brand for the production of masks or with any medical facilitators can help both the entities involved.
You can use your digital platform to raise awareness and help facilitate a cause. Multiple social media influencers used their platforms to raise awareness about Coronavirus precautions in collaboration with the World Health Organization and government.
There can be multiple ways to collaborate with another brand. An example of such a partnership is; Metro Bis is a restaurant in Connecticut, partnered up with several grocery stores and prepared meals that were available at the grocers to help overcome the loss they faced due to the lockdown.
Other examples of such partnerships can be coaxial cable businesses offering discounted prices to internet providers during the pandemic, delivery services collaborating with e-commerce platforms to expand services whereby helping businesses. Get creative in how you reach customers.
Guest Post: About the Author
Arslan Hassan is an electrical engineer with a passion for writing, designing, and anything tech-related. His educational background in the technical field has given him the edge to write on many topics. He occasionally writes blog articles for Shireen Inc.