The news of an extended lock down in Melbourne on the weekend was met with frustration and disappointment by many small business owners. We encourage you to hang in there just a little longer; and to perhaps try one of these marketing techniques to give your business – and yourself – a boost.
1 Adjust your payment options
The pandemic has forced many people out of work, meaning they’re watching their money carefully, and spending less. This makes it much harder to sell large volumes of products or services with high upfront costs. To ensure customers continue shopping with you, consider switching to a subscription model. This involves making low, regular payments over time to reduce the burden of the full purchase price. Consider if you could implement an after-pay system such as ZipPay or AfterPay.
2 Change service or product placement and promotion
As a consequence of COVID-19, people are spending far more time at home. This has led to a dramatic rise in Internet use. Despite this, Google searches have decreased, while YouTube viewing has risen exponentially. Consider new ways to get in front of your customers. Could you create a Google advertising campaign targetted at websites your ideal clients/customers are visiting? Vimeo has a user-friendly tool to create quick films for social media, with a range of templates to choose from. Why not experiment? Have you tried Facebook live or the new Instagram Reels? Video content has a great impact on improving your SEO.
3 Create a post-COVID marketing plan
No one knows how long the health and economic impacts of COVID-19 will affect businesses, and society more broadly. Therefore, you need to plan for various scenarios and their potential impact on your business. Start to consider the following:
• How have customers/clients responded to your messages during the pandemic? What should you stop / continue / save for a rainy day post-Covid?
• Are your brand’s value proposition and purpose still relevant? If not, how can you refresh your brand (website copy, logo, tagline, target audience) to reflect the ‘new you’?
• What benefits would you derive from keeping new sales and promotional strategies, post-crisis? Which pre-Covid strategies can you build upon again?
• What tools, resources and financials need to be in place for a smooth transition post-crisis?
4 Stay connected and informed
New ways of working, socialising and shopping may remain popular when restrictions ease – changing the business landscape forever. Stay on top of trends in your industry by joining like-minded business groups. Small Business Victoria runs a Facebook Group called ‘I’m a Business Owner in Victoria’. Membership groups for women-only are flourishing, including Future Women, Business Chicks, and OneLine by OneRoof. Free business skills sessions are in abundance right now. Spend time researching groups and events, exploring if they attract your kind of people, and make an effort to widen your support network.
Get in touch if you’d like to talk through a range of options for your business during this time.
