Three focuses of my blog are Current Events, Financial Literacy/Money and Business/Entrepreneurship. With this Coronavirus/Covid-19 Crisis, many businesses are in an unanticipated tailspin. Every business owner must figure out how to survive this storm so that they’re still viable once it passes. The following contributed post is entitled, Promoting Your Business In Challenging Times.
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With the Covid-19 outbreak dominating the news and our daily lives, every single aspect of doing business has been plunged into chaos seemingly overnight. And while small businesses are generally used to dealing with challenges, this remains absolutely unprecedented in terms of scale and impact. And while the dust is still settling, any forward-thinking company with a goal for long-term survival is going to be focused on adapting to this new normal as quickly and possible and mapping out a viable way to keep the show on the road under incredibly hard circumstances. No matter the doom and gloom, people still have needs and there is still a market place out there – even if you need to work a little harder to reach it. All bets are off, but it must be said that it’s an extremely difficult landscape to try and market yourself out there. So how can you market your business during sensitive times?
Visualise Your Future Funnel
The companies who are going to manage to come through all this are the ones who are actively thinking ahead. While everyone is struggling to recover and fully understand the impact on their operations, those who are able to take a step back from the panic and think ahead towards times of recovery will be the ones who are able to benefit the most. It can be tempting in desperate times to try to secure a sales pipeline, but this messaging can come across as insensitive. Instead, use this immediate time to craft some sympathetic crisis communications checking in with customers and offering support in any way that you can. Then begin to plan a second phase where you can build up to something approaching normal marketing activity again. What channels will offer the best value? What SEO might you need to do on your site? How might you change your messaging to fit new circumstances?
Ensure Value For Money
Cashflow is going to be a serious matter for almost all businesses following this period of disruption, so now is a very good time to ensure that the return on investment for your marketing spend is going to deliver what you need. Review everything from your PPC campaigns which may not be living up to their conversion goals, to any outdoor advertising which may be going unseen as people stay indoors. Consider new channels which may have better reach in these times – such as forms of digital advertising or perhaps finding out about radio advertising here: howtoadvertiseonsiriusxm.com/.
Get The Tone Right
Tone is everything at the moment, as your audience navigates it’s way through difficult circumstances. Remember that people are worried and concerned, and that there may be more sales barriers to overcome than usual – ones you may not have handled before. Depending on what you do, you may be fielding more queries about hygiene, cancellation policies, payment terms and travel restrictions than ever before. Your tone should be reassuring, realistic and kind. During times of crisis, it is possible to foster deep customer loyalty with the right approach.
