If you’re like many business owners out there, the coronavirus pandemic has changed your world dramatically. According to a SHRM study, 42% of small businesses have had to close their businesses because of the pandemic. While 62% of small businesses reported a significant decrease in revenue since the beginning of COVID-19. These are scary numbers for everyone. To deal with this change in market structure, you may find yourself having to change up other processes for the time being, such as your marketing strategies.
Marketing During Covid-19: 5 Tips
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed the lives of both consumers and businesses. With this major change and a “new normal” comes a new way to market to customers.
To guide your marketing during the pandemic and help keep your business afloat during trying times, use these five Covid-19 marketing tips.
1. Reassure Your Customers
Your customers are your business’s heartbeat. Without them, you wouldn’t be the successful business you are today. In a time with uncertainty everywhere, you need to reassure your customers that you’re there for them and that your business isn’t going anywhere.
So, how do you tie in reassuring your customers into your marketing tactics? That is a great question! To inform your customers about how you’re responding to the coronavirus and let them know you’re there for them when they need you, you can:
- Send out email updates
- Post regularly on social media
- Add information in customer accounts (e.g., on the dashboard)
- Answer frequently asked questions about changes because of COVID
Your customers are just like the rest of us we need reassurances. Reassuring your customers that everything is going to be OK is a crucial during this pandemic. Your customers will appreciate the updates and your sensitivity toward the situation which will strengthen your customer relationships.
2. Get Creative
The coronavirus age is not the time to scale back marketing efforts, this is unfortunately a mistake many small business owners make. It is a time to be creative with your marketing strategies. The best way is by hiring a marketing consultant. Marketing consultants offer a fresh set of eyes and creative strategies to adapt to this new world we live in. Another benefit of hiring a consultant is they work independently so that takes of the pressures off of you, the owner to be able to focus on other aspects of your business.
3. Kick Things Up On Social
Even before the coronavirus emerged, social media was huge. As of 2019 79% of Americans have social media profiles, a number that will continue to increase as more and more of what we do goes virtual.
To market your company in the middle of coronavirus, social media should be one of your marketing strategies.If you have been putting off jumping into the social media pool or maybe it gets put aside in your marketing efforts, no in this digital age is a great time to promote your business offerings online. To market your business on social, be active, and present. You can:
- Start or join conversations
- Utilize sponsored posts or paid advertisements
- Post more frequently
- Have an online contest (e.g., share for a chance to win X)
- Keep your customers in the loop with store updates
- Promote special or limited-time offerings
Social media is a great way to get people talking about your business. It is also one of the less expensive marketing strategies to implement.
4. Build Relationships Virtually
There is still something to be said about in person relationships, its in our nature to be more trusting person to person or to have something tangible. This is something that is going to have to change during the pandemic. Virtual relationship building is so important if you want to market your business in the midst of COVID-19. Embrace building an strengthening relationships with your customers virtually.
To strengthen relationships with your customers, try to see your business from their perspective. What would you want to see and hear from a business? What would you think if you saw one of your business’s marketing communications?
Keep open, honest, and considerate communication going. If you currently don’t have a regular cadence of communication with your customers, now’s the time to start (think email marketing campaigns).
When communicating and connecting with customers, be empathic, genuine, and thoughtful. The more you connect with your customers and get a feel for who they are, and what they want and need the better you can market to them in the future.
5. Improve Your Online Presence
If your online presence was lacking or didn’t exist before the coronavirus, now is the time to change that. Having a strong online presence can help you build your brand and gain credibility to attract new customers. Plus, it makes your business more readily accessible to customers so they can find out more information about what your business has to offer.
According to one source, internet hits have surged between 50% and 70% due to the coronavirus. With so many people spending their free time online, why not use this opportunity to get seen? To give your business’s online presence a boost, you can:
- Optimize your business website for mobile
- Create valuable content
- Do some SEO research
- Incorporate keywords on your website pages
- Engage in online communities and forums
- Improve user experience
Even if you have a strong online presence the internet is always changing, so to stay in front of customers and acquire new ones you have to do the same.
Why Is It Important To Market During Covid-19?
Marketing to your customers is always an important aspect of running a d successful business, the pandemic has made it even more crucial. Here are some ways continuing and improving your marketing efforts during Covid-19 benefit your business:
- Get ahead of your competitors
- Learn more about your target audience
- Build on your business relationships
- Set yourself up for success post-coronavirus
Now is not the time to decrease marketing efforts. Now is the time to be creative and innovative in marketing your techniques. The best way to be seen by your customers is to hire a marketing consultant. If any of the tips described above sound unachievable or to much to take on right now, hire a professional. Marketing consultants succeed when your business succeeds so it is in their best interest to make sure your business does well.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/mikekappel/2020/07/22/marketing-your-business-during-covid-19/#186fa7285c92
