Do you have a business that you need to keep afloat in the midst of COVID-19 or coronavirus?
From small businesses to global companies, almost everyone is struggling to make ends meet during the pandemic. As some companies are letting some employees go, reducing salaries and cutting costs; everyone is affected by the current situation.
Businesses’ revenue and customer base are heavily impacted, which means less sales and potential customers.
Is it time to stop trying to promote your business? Should you give up?
Not yet….
Silver Lining
Although the global pandemic is affecting some sectors and industries more than others, there’s still hope for a comeback. As people are spending more time at home, thus more time on the internet, digital marketing can be the answer to your questions, but how?
This is what we’ll explore in this article, and we’ll show how you – as a business – can benefit from the current situation!
Turning the tables
The sudden increase of people being indoors has led to a change in lifestyle where consumers have shifted to spending more time online than before.
This basically means that your potential customers are surfing the internet, using social media and consuming more online content. So, if you don’t have a strong online identity, website or social media presence, you’re already losing.
Companies that have managed to cater to the pandemic and the current situation and the ones who switched their business model to an online one were the ones who survived this crisis.
But it’s not too late yet….
[callout] Recent research has shown that 61% of marketers are altering their short-term media strategy. However, only 9% are making long-term changes. [/callout]
This means that you need to start re-working on your marketing strategies and below are some key pointers that you can kick-start with:
- Invest in eCommerce
It’s no secret that consumers shopped online in record numbers so far this year, boosting website traffic for many online retailers.
The latest Digital Commerce 360 analysis shows that visits to ecommerce sites collectively increased 18.7% year over year during the four-month period from March to June 2020. The top online retailers grew traffic 125% year over year, getting a bump from fast-growing categories like office supplies and sporting goods.
Our advice to you is to adapt to online shopping, that means that if you have an offline store, that’s not enough. You need to change your business model, to serve both online and offline shoppers.
Start by creating an online store for your products or services, and make sure that your customers can now purchase your products online easily.
Building an online store isn’t that complicated anymore, you can use online marketplaces like Facebook marketplace, you can feature your items in Shopify, Souq.com or similar sites. If you have the budget and the tech knowledge needed, you can build an online store using Woocommerce.
- Adapt your business model
Moving on to your brand, now might be a good time, to give your brand a new feel and vibe. As the pandemic crisis continues, you’ll notice that businesses not adapting to the new normal are sinking.
So, what are you supposed to do then to save your business?
Re-work on your business model, to help your business adapt to the new normal.
Don’t have a website? Create one.
Don’t sell your products online? Start an online store.
Don’t have social media accounts for your business? Grab that handle now.
There are different ways to help your business survive through adapting..
You can start creating special discounts, alter your products and services to be available online or start a blog to share tips and advice.
When it comes to new ideas, the sky’s your limit, so set your imagination free and experiment new things!
- Improve your social ads
According to Social Bakers, social media ad spend rebounded significantly through the first four weeks of April, as the worldwide average for all industries increased by 30.9% compared to the end of March. Similar to the ad spend figures, cost per click saw an industry-wide increase of 18.9% over the first four weeks of April compared to where it had been amid the pandemic at the end of March.
This time, it’s not about spending more money on social ads, or online ads; it’s all about utilizing the dollars spent wisely.
Instead of allocating more budget, maybe you should consider a new targeting strategy or retargeting.
In a nutshell
There is no doubt that the coronavirus has left its mark in history. The question is rather how much things will that affect your business? And how can you recover from this crisis?
More digital solutions need to be considered for all industries. Even during a time that feels like a downward spiral – there can be an opportunity to be seized.
If you’re having trouble with setting up your business’s online presence, reach out to us to help you get started.