Surviving the COVID-19 Pandemic
With more and more states encouraging people to stay home, small businesses are suffering a lot more than their national counterparts. While chains have the resources to send their products directly to customers in 2 days at little-to-no additional cost, small businesses likely don't have that kind of extra cash sitting around, so this pandemic is hitting them hard. So how do you stay afloat in all this craziness? Keep reading!
Self-Audit
The first step to making your small business corona-proof is taking a good hard look at where you stand. Do you offer services or products? Can that service be provided online? Can your products be shipped or are they something that needs to be used/consumed soon after production? How much of your business could you move online realistically? Answer these questions for yourself and then move on to the next step.
Find A Communication Path
How do you or could you communicate with your customers without them coming into your business? If you already have a way to contact them, such as a social media account, an email or text list, or an app, great! Skip to the next step.
If not, what's the best way to get in touch with your customers? If you have a website, add an email list signup to the front page, or link a social media account/page that you create. If you still have customers coming into your store for the time being, make a small sign and put it by your register, talk to your customers about it and let them know it's how you'll be keeping in touch with them if you need to close your doors for a bit. Think about your customers and what kind of platform they'll likely already be on, as well. Then once you've found a way to keep in touch with your customers, go on to the next step.
Choose Your Platform(s)
Now you need to decide what the best way to make sales online is. Can you sell your products for pick up, or do you want to use a delivery system of some sort? Do you want to sell gift certificates for future use or provide services over video chat? You can use your website (or build a website) to make sales, or you can use social media platforms to post photos of your products and have customers direct message you. There are tons of options to sell your products or services online, so choose the one that works best for your business and your customers.
Use Current Resources
If you already have a social media account or page with a following, use that to sell or promote your goods or services. If you have a website that your customers regularly visit, do the same. If you have an email or text list, use that to let your customers know how you'll be responding to this pandemic. The point is to use the tools you already have as much as possible, because that's where your customers are already going to find you, and you won't have to find them.
If you don't have any digital presence as a business, now is the time to do that! While you still have occasional customers coming in, tell them where they can find you online, or invite frequent customers to follow your page or social media account directly through that platform. And if you need help building your digital presence, send me a message through one of the social icons at the bottom of this post, or on the "Get In Touch" page of this site, and I can help. During this crisis, I'm doing a lot for FREE, so definitely reach out if you're interested.
Build Your Platform(s)
Now we get down to it. Using the platform(s) you've chosen, make it ready for online sales. If you're using a social media site, add products and post pictures, then direct your customers to buy through the site or to DM you and use your own POS. If you're using a website, make sure everything is set up with pictures of your products or descriptions of your services. If you plan on selling gift certificates for future use, add some incentive in there like the promise of a small free product/service. This is another stage I can really help you with, so reach out to me and I'll help you build your platform and sell your products or services.
Funnel Your Customers
The last step, you've made it! Once you've built your platform for sales, you're going to want to use the communication path(s) you've chosen to direct your customers to that platform. Send out emails, make posts on social media, give notifications through an app, all funneling your customers to your selling platform. Make sure your content and communication is consistent and eye-catching, and you'll be making sales in no time! If you want help creating content for this step, reach out and I've got your back.
As I mentioned a few times, some of the steps can be a little tricky, so please reach out to me if you need any help! With how hard this crisis is hitting everyone, I want to make sure that everyone makes it through, so go out there and show your customers that little pandemic isn't going to stop you from serving them. And wash your hands!
