Think Outside the Box

After three national lockdowns with businesses opening and closing, it’s hard to picture what route the upcoming future awaits. The insecurity that the current climate is bringing can leave business owners feeling deflated and on the verge of giving up. While some businesses are relying on the government to take further actions, others have decided to take matters into their own hands to ensure that they have hunted down every opportunity to make it out on the other side. In today’s blog post, were going to give away some valuable advice on how you can get creative so that your business story is one of the successful ones.

Become delivery friendly

The constant evolution of delivery options has made it that much easier to get your product to the customer regardless of what form your business takes. Whether you’re in the food industry or product based, it has never been a better time to transform your logistics so that you are able to provide for customers.

Its very easy to sit around and wait for everything to go back to normal before you get your customers back into your store, however its not promised and could result to you being left behind while your competitors grab hold of your audience. Set up a delivery method so that your customer has another option other than physically being in your store. Whether that is personally driving to your customers or making use of the abundant delivery services, going that extra mile during these times can really mean a lot to your customers. It shows that you care about your customers and that you’re still there for them regardless of the circumstances.

Its important to make the transition as smooth as possible and therefore your step to step process needs to be easy to follow. Put yourself in the customers shoes and think about how you would be able to find the company; website, FB, Insta, Word of mouth? Let’s not forget as well that ensuring that you have provided a simple online payments can convince customers to purchase from you. If you are a service provider, you can look into doing online one to one sessions, or even look into providing gift vouchers and pre-selling special events that secure individuals with a place once doors open up again.

Lastly, the same can be said for local restaurants that have had to close and adapt to delivery methods. Ways to make you stand out from the crowd could be tailoring your promotions to the lock down such as ‘Lockdown lunches’ and ‘social distancing desserts’. Another method that a few restaurants have taken on board is providing meal kits where produce and instructions have been provided. These could potentially be very popular especially when many furloughed individuals are looking to obtain new habits and hobbies.

Seize online opportunities

As expected lockdown has seen a substantial growth in Internet use. Data Reportal show that the number of users on the Internet and on social networks has increased by over 300 million around the world. Business owners need to understand the wealth of resources that they have at their disposal by transforming their business onto an online platform. It is one thing to have a Facebook page where you post a few pictures of your products and it’s another creating a website with innovative and engaging content that gives you leverage for the future.

Having an online shop for customers can really transform your overall professional outlook in comparison to posting a few fb posts on products you have in store. Another tip to look out for is ensuring that all your information is up to date on your site. Its very easy to focus on having a physical store and neglecting your virtual one. Many businesses have lost sales because their customers managed to find their online presence but failed to find the correct products and get to the final stage of the purchase. Let’s look at it this way, you wouldn’t advertise that you have new products that have launched on a banner or the window of your shop and leave the store empty for the customer to walk in and not buy anything, so why would you do the same online?

If you are a service provider such as a personal trainer, look for ways where you can find a way to teach classes online through a camera or even setting up a website where you are able to provide individuals the option to purchase health and fitness packages. In addition, you don’t have to have a presence for the ultimate purpose to sell a product, it could be to create entertainment so that you stay in the back of your customers mind for when things open back up again. An example of this could be tutorials on YouTube where you provide valuable information in your industry. Chefs could provide tutorials and advice on making their best recipes, or a masseuse could give information on why getting a massage is beneficial for ones health that will leave customers rushing to your doors once the lockdown eases.

Plan for the future

While there is so much that one can do behind locked doors, many businesses have taken up the opportunity to work behind the scenes and develop . This has been done in various ways such as taking advantage of broadening their skills and knowledge in order to keep up with the latest courses or for those that have moved online brushing up on the latest social media trends as algorithms are constantly changing. In addition, the variety of different marketing tools can be overwhelming and expanding knowledge can help you decide on your direction whether its click per ad, fb ads or even email marketing.

Other companies have taken the time to rebrand themselves and introducing new products to their lines as this can develop excitement and draw attention to the brand. Another opportunity that presents itself is getting ahead of the admin work and finding ways to cut down in costs. You would be surprised on the unnecessary ads that companies are still paying for that have no effect or are not relevant during the pandemic. take this time to revaluate your business decisions and improving the process.

Overall, I hope that regardless of what situation you’re in during the lockdown your able to move forward. Whether you’re looking to move online or rebrand, Ava Rose Marketing is here to help and support businesses. Get in contact with us today to see how we can help.

sources:

https://datareportal.com/global-digital-overview