The COVID-19 pandemic had slowed down many businesses, particularly the small and local establishments. During this time, business owners need to innovate and find ways on how they can continue to reach out to their customers without going against health protocols.
One way to do that is to improve their marketing strategy and visibility online. The only way businesses can survive this pandemic is to adapt online approaches to keep their customers informed. With the help of Glass Digital’s Creative Director Jonathan Birch, he will share how local businesses can continue to thrive in this trying time.
1. Embrace the Changing Landscape Fast
There’s no telling when this pandemic will be over and if businesses don’t act quickly, it can do real damage to their income. With all the restrictions that are happening now due to Covid-19, businesses need to accept and embrace the changing landscape in order to survive.
Obviously, what worked for you before Covid-19 will not work out right now. What you need to do is listen to your existing and future customers’ needs and wants. As an example, you can change how you sell your products or what people can see on your website.
If your current website only advertises the products you sell in your store, then you might want to add an option to sell online as well. It may still be far from your selling volume before the pandemic, but it will surely increase your sales.
2. Focus on Changing Your Online Marketing Strategy
Now is the time to re-examine your online marketing strategy. Your current marketing strategy will not work like how you imagined it during this pandemic. Focusing on remarketing is one way to understand what your customers are currently looking for and this is one way you can convert them into sales.
With the current situation, the right approach would be to retarget a consumer who had shown initial interest in your product or service or an ad similar to yours. This means that the consumer is somehow interested and has a better chance of converting them into sales rather than convincing consumers who have not shown even a slight interest.
You can use numerous tools to help you find these customers. Facebook Pixel is one example if you rely on Facebook to advertise your products or services. This tool can help optimize ad delivery to those who have a higher chance of engaging. In addition to that, Facebook can show the products and related products that potential customers had already viewed on your site. Reminding them of the products they’ve previously shown interest in may lead to higher conversion rates.
3. Collaborate with Other Local Businesses
Remember that you’re not the only one struggling during this pandemic, so why not team up with other businesses and show support for each other. But remember to choose a business that shares the same values as you so as not to confuse your existing customers. Apart from your own values, be sure to consider your customers’ desires as well.
Here are some of the things you can do with your chosen business partner.
• Create a social campaign and host an online event together.
• Run a friendly competition online, be sure to promote it on both of your websites to get more interaction.
• Come up with collaborative product bundles together
When doing these activities be sure to always promote them on both of your websites. The more people who can see your posts, the more chances both of you can gain more potential customers. Be sure that you offer interesting, creative, and worthwhile events, prizes, and packages that both your customers and followers will appreciate.
4. Host Live Events
You may want to get in touch with your customers virtually to break the cycle from what they call the new normal. Your customers will appreciate you taking the time to ask how they are and interact with them even for just a few minutes or an hour.
This is a nice opportunity to learn more about your customers and find out what they would like to see added to your range of products and a good way to announce any business news if any. There are a lot of things you can share at these virtual events. You just need to be creative and think of something that your customers would like to see.
5. Reoptimize Your Keywords
Again, what works before may not work right now, so best to take a look at your analytics and listen to what it’s saying to you. They might be a need for you to reoptimize your elements and see if you need to target something new.
You may need to optimize your site with keywords pertaining to Covid-19. One way to do this is to use Google Keyword Planner or SEMrush.
6. Incorporate a Knowledge Hub in Your Website
If you still don’t have a knowledge hub on your site, this is the best time to do so. You can use keyword tools to find out what people are interested in. You can also use Google’s People Also Ask feature to help you come up with topics to write. Adding this to your site will keep your customers coming back to you.
The effect of this pandemic had pushed businesses to think outside the box and act differently to survive. So, hopefully, these 6 strategies will help your business continue to flourish even during this adversity.