We’ve got the roadmap from the government and can now start to really get your business back on track. If your business has been paused, you can now start to spring back to life. Businesses that have continued to operate through the pandemic, can also start to operate fully and restore their turnover and plans. There’s nothing like a deadline over the coming weeks to focus our activities and here’s a short guide to marketing to reopen your business and to start over.
1) We are opening soon!
Start getting the message out about when you plan to open and welcome everyone back. It is also worth re-confirming any procedures to reassure customers you are Covid safe and thank them for their support and patience. Keep your tone positive and upbeat.
However you normally communicate, either SMS messages, emails or on all your social media channels, get the message out quickly. And for Facebook and Twitter, pin your post to the top for more attention. For a handful of key contacts, you may wish to give them a quick call too. It’s more personal and a great chance to check how someone else really is.
Go back over your Google My Business and Social Media to amend your Opening Times.
Maybe you used the Facebook option for Temporarily Closed or have set some auto-replies to your inbound messages that need tweaking too. Similarly, do you need to update your website details?
If you have a physical office or shop, make sure your door and windows have an eye-catching poster displayed.
2) Business Changes
The pandemic might have been given you a chance to reassess the things that are important to you and your business. Is there something new you want to introduce? Maybe a new simplified way of working to improve the customer experience, simplify your working methods or reduce a service offering? Starting over allows you a chance to make changes for the better. Clearly communicate these changes, and again update your profiles, to reflect this such as website, Google My Business and Social.
Chatting to a client after a previous lockdown, they described the feeling as “starting up a business from scratch.” I can see why. It is a great opportunity to share and re-affirm your business dreams, vision and values. Even long-term clients may not have known this about you. Let your passion for your business shine through and embrace the change to make them work for you.
3) Promotions
Do you have old promotions that you maybe need to put on pause for a little while whilst you get back on your feet? For example, regular discount offers may devalue your business right now. However, you may have old stock or seasonal stock that you need to move. So, having a sale for these items would work here.
If you have a loyalty scheme, you may wish to promote this as it has repeat business that will benefit you in the longer term and the reward your customer wants.
Looking forward, create more value-add offerings with summer packages to bring them back.
4) Marketing Plan and Budget
Take some time to just list down what from your products or service do your clients really want, and who is your ideal customer. Can you create a profile for them to then be able to directly target them? Think about what your client really needs right now, and what would be the benefit to them as this might have changed a little. If you are not sure, ask some key clients for their thoughts. They will appreciate being asked for their opinion and having a contribution moving forward. Using the Poll option on Instagram Stories is a quick tool to gain insights. If you want something more in-depth, then use Survey Monkey.
Which of your marketing activities in the past have you the best response? How can you develop these moving forward? Set some realistic targets and measures. Put a note in your diary to check your metrics, to make sure you look at these and make changes as necessary to stay on target.
Consider your brand, from the look and feel to the tone of voice. What changes can you make to attract your ideal customer?
Do you need to tweak your Social Media strategy? Check your insights and subject to your client profiling consider if you are on the right channels. Are you able to regularly commit to posting and actively take part in outbound engagement? Planning your content ahead is wise and can be scheduled with tools like Hootsuite to take the pressure off.
5) Community
This could be your physical local community or even your industry community. But it is key to get involved to have more of a presence and be seen within your community. Locally, this could mean looking to collaborate with other business with whom you might share existing clients, or where they have a new client base you can market to.
Get your staff and friends on board too. They can help spread the word on social as this is often more impactful to viewers.
The job list might be long, but it is exciting for all of us to have something more positive to look to, move forward and let our business flourish once more. If it all seems a little too much to get through, and you want to make sure the marketing is not put on the back burner, then get in touch. Let’s see how we can help support your business so you can focus on your day job.