Marketing Your Business

You don’t need me to say that we are in unprecedented times. If you are self-employed or a small business owner then you will be beyond worried right now, we all are.  Here are some simple tips to try help and support you marketing your business at this difficult time. The key message is to be flexible, nimble and think outside the box. What can you do to adapt your business to this bizarre situation? how can you help others and how can your continue to grow your brand.

Adapt marketing your business to this bizarre situation

1. Keep up the Marketing: Stay out there and be relevant. Use your skills to offer support, advice, comfort and help to others through any means you can, this may be useful blogs, physical help (i.e. practical guides or online classes, even free services – don’t offer help then charge full whack. Talk about it on social media, ask friends, family, customers to spread the word and do what you can from your business offering.
2. Change your Message Get rid of any hard sell messaging, now is not the time. Make sure you are still contacting your customers but do it with care. Offer support and reassurance, extend voucher deadlines, reschedule lessons/sessions to once the world is back to normal. Change your retail offering to home delivery or just offer a chat and check-in service. There are domestic cleaners now doing peoples food shopping, family businesses offering daily phone calls for a chat, farm shops offering home delivery and dance teachers giving free lessons via the internet. What can you do to be there for your target market? How can you show you care?
3. Support Other Businesses: Competitors are out of the window, we are all in this together so look at how you can pull together with other businesses and offer more support, different services or just recommend, share and post other businesses content to help keep others going and to give yourself some focus.
4. Prepare for the Future: It may not feel like it now but ‘this too shall pass’, use this downtime to brainstorm future business ideas, Up-skill on areas required, look to diversify, have something to offer in 3-6 months when this has passed and people are looking to spend once again. We always complain that we don’t have the time to work ‘on’ the business as we are too busy working ‘in’ the business so now is your opportunity.
5. Set a Strategy: Closing your business isn’t a strategy, sitting back and waiting it out isn’t a strategy. Start planning, draft a business plan, a marketing plan and then a ‘to do’ list to get on top of what you can do now and what you need to do once income is flowing once more.