You Can’t Expect Business to Go Back to Normal in 2020. What Can You Do?

Businesses around the world are highly unlikely to return to complete normal operations before the end of 2020. Not only does the COVID-19 crisis make it necessary for your business to find new ways to operate and connect with your customers, but even when it’s over and businesses are allowed to resume operations, chances are, those operations will look very different than they did in 2019.  As a business, you need to meet that challenge and continue to grow your brand during COVID-19 and leverage these challenging times, even if it seems as though there are substantial obstacles in your way.

You need to meet that challenge and continue to grow and leverage these challenging times

The Questions Business Owners are Asking

Right now, many business owners are asking three key questions:

• How can I recover lost revenue and sales opportunities?
• How can I find new clients and opportunities when things are so uncertain?
• Is it possible to come out stronger than I was?

These aren’t easy questions. A world in crisis has transformed not only the way many people handle their usual health and hygiene concerns but also the way those individuals interact with the businesses they use on a regular basis. That doesn’t mean, however, that your business has to suffer forever. As you move deeper into 2020, it’s important that you carefully consider what you can do to keep your business growing and even thriving in the midst of the current crisis.

Is Your Brand Relevant During This Time?

Your brand won’t survive the coronavirus if it’s perceived as excessively optimistic or greedy. You don’t want to go into your marketing, from your social media conversations or emails to your physical advertisements, with an excessively cheerful attitude or one that treats everything as simply “business as usual.” Your customers are struggling. There are big emotions going around during this time, especially as the impact of COVID-19 continues to be felt more widely.

Your brand has to acknowledge those emotions and those circumstances, but you also have to highlight the fact that you’re still in business and here to help.

If your brand is perceived as genuinely helpful throughout the current crisis and as your customers work to rebuild their lives once shelter in place measures are lifted, it won’t just make it through this one time. It will thrive in ways you might never have expected.

How Should You Position Your Brand During COVID-19?

As online media consumption meets all-time highs during the pandemic, your future costumers are paying attention to what you have to say. While ad platforms are experiencing a loss of ad revenues, we predict this may shift. This is the time to position your brand for your potentially new or future customers. Growing your brand in the midst of the current crisis is strategic. You’re already asking key questions about your business. Now, shift and ask your team:

Who needs our company and what we have to offer right now?
The goods and services that you offer are still important. Your business might not fall into the “essential” category of businesses that are remaining open and allowing customers through the doors in the midst of the crisis, but that doesn’t mean that your customers no longer need you. In some cases, your customers need you more than ever in the middle of this disaster. They need a sense of normalcy. They need to connect with your business the way they always have. Most of all, they need caring, compassionate service from companies that are looking out for them. Consider who those customers are who still need your business and what you have to offer them, both during the current crisis and as it resolves.

What products or services do we have to solve real problems? What value do those products and services have?
Take a unique look at the products and services your business offers and how they can benefit your customers, not just in the normal course of events, but right now, in the middle of the current crisis. Chances are, the way your customers use your services has changed. You might no longer be able to operate the way you did previously. At the same time, products and services that were previously under-utilized may suddenly be much more important to your customers. Sit down with your team and detail those services and how you can continue to provide them to your customers moving forward.

How can we proactively deliver or products and services to those who need us most?
Delivery methods look vastly different in the middle of the COVID-19 crisis. Your customers might be reluctant to leave their homes. Some of them might not be able to leave their homes due to health concerns. At the same time, they may need the services you can provide now more than ever. Carefully consider how your business can continue to sell and deliver those services that your customers need most. Consider:

• How can you offer delivery options to your customers?
• Can you take steps to offer contact-less purchases to your customers–purchases that they can make entirely online, with no need to actually enter a store or interact with even a delivery person directly? If not, how can you minimize contact as much as possible?
• Where can you find your customers now, in the midst of the current crisis? This is an ongoing question that your business will need to continue to answer as the situation evolves and your customers see the increased impact from COVID-19, and again as the health crisis resumes. Your customers might, for example, spend more time than usual on social media, or they might give up social media in an effort to reduce the negative information they’re taking in each day. Carefully consider what you can do to continue making a connection with your target audience, whether that audience remains the same as it was a few weeks ago or has changed in the light of the current situation.

These questions will hopefully help you define a new content strategy. Make sure it will help you stand out from the exponentially growing amount of media circulating online. And if you are cash positive, now is the time to leverage ad platforms for brand awareness. You can also combine this with a search strategy to be as visible as possible during this time of heightened searches and media consumption.

Do you need more help advancing your brand in the face of COVID-19? Are you struggling to meet the needs of your customers and balancing the needs of your business? Contact us to learn more about the services we provide and how we can help you reach your customers throughout 2020 in spite of a vastly changed landscape.