The primary challenge for many businesses reopening amid the pandemic comes down to finances. After closing – or modifying – the company for months, there may not be much left in the marketing budget. Fortunately, Taps Media shares some cost-effective steps you can take to promote your brand, even in the economic downturn.
1. Don’t Discount the Value of Social Media
Hopefully, your business has already been using social media to keep in touch with consumers and staff amid pandemic closures. If not, now is the perfect time to implement social media marketing. Social media marketing, in fact, is crucial for reaching your target audience and offering services and updates in real-time. Social media marketing can also be virtually free – save for your personnel’s time creating content and interacting with consumers.
2. Take Precautions with Telecommuting
Many businesses are finding that telecommuting is a lifesaver during the economic downturn. By allowing staff to continue working from home, you can save on overhead costs and reduce the risk of illness among workers. You might even find that your team is more productive when working remotely.
However, Work-from-Home Depot explains remote workers also need to follow online safety practices. For example, sharing work devices with their family members (especially kids) is a no-no. Further, remote teams should use antivirus software and ensure that their home Wi-Fi connection is encrypted. If your team handles customer information, these types of safety steps are doubly important.
If you need to hire more staff, managing your payroll effectively becomes critical. To simplify this process and eliminate errors, take advantage of payroll software. An effective payroll platform will allow you to pay your employees on the go, offer same-day direct deposit options, and automate your tax forms.
3. Reopen with Safety Measures in Place
As you reopen, part of your marketing plan needs to address coronavirus precautions in the workplace. For example, you’ll need to develop and share policy and workspace updates with your team.
Addressing customer and employee safety also requires changes to the way your business operates. Touch-free tech can go a long way toward stopping the spread of germs, from motion-detecting lights to faucets and soap dispensers. Automatic doors are another relatively inexpensive innovation that can help reduce germ and virus transmission.
4. Give Customers What They Want
After seeing the potential for community transmission of COVID-19, many consumers are wary of visiting businesses in person. While employing specific safety measures can help with the in-store experience, the fact remains that people seem to prefer online shopping.
In fact, many consumers are willing to pay more to order an item online rather than pick it up in-store. For retail businesses, this could mean a move to eCommerce would be prudent. If you’re in the restaurant business, continuing with curbside pickup – or investing in a branded app – could create a bigger boon for business.
Delivery app activity has risen astronomically. More people are relying on delivery or curbside pickup than ever before. If your business can pivot to accommodate, you could see a significant increase in profits.
5. Be Careful with Marketing Messages
One completely free way to preserve your brand’s reputation (and customer base) is by avoiding offensive or inflammatory marketing messages. Showing compassion and skipping “pandemic deals” is one way to ensure you don’t alienate your shoppers. Even email marketing can make or break your efforts – particularly sales-y or mass-marketing messages are not ideal.
Also, take steps to connect on a personal level and build relationships, rather than sending generic, mass marketing emails. Especially in the current political climate, your advertising could either hurt or help your business’s recovery. At this point, you may want to hire a writer to ensure your message is clear, impactful, and engaging. You may also want to hire Taps Media to produce high-quality video so you can engage with your customers and showcase your products and services.
Sticking with a budget can be tough when facing significant changes to your company model. But with these cost-effective approaches to reopening, you can make the most of your post-shutdown business revival. All it takes is knowing what not to do – and how to implement the changes your customers want to see.
