During this time, businesses find it difficult to grow. The COVID-19 pandemic has affected small companies in a lot of ways. The lockdown was just the beginning — there are a lot of small entrepreneur ships that find it difficult to bounce back after closing.
With the limited capacity of operations or just because they’re operating remotely, companies find it lucky that they’re doing just enough to operate; it seems that this isn’t the time to entertain thoughts of expansion. If you’re a car company that’s enjoying decent profit from selling Subaru cylinder head gasket replacement parts, you’re among the lucky ones. But maybe you can still expand?
If you’ve entertained the thought of bouncing back against the challenges that COVID-19 presented, here’s how you can try to get back on your feet and realize your expansion dreams — even when there’s a pandemic going on.
Do you have a strategy? Stick with it
There are many resources available online that you can use to spread awareness about your company. Many of them are free and will cost you no money, but you have to think hard about whether your company needs to use them. This is the part where you need to be strategic with your decisions.
Even if you’re not investing money into your business, you have to be very careful how you spend your time. Running a business isn’t simple; you cannot just spend time even trying for a failing enterprise, and it’s extra challenging during the pandemic.
If you have crafted a plan tailored around marketing during the pandemic, stick with it. This would help your business grow further, as well as continue to expand even with all the lockdowns and shelter-in-place orders around.
Research new ways of doing business
The Harvard Business Review highlights an important word during this pandemic: pivot. Companies who know how to adjust to the current pandemic can expertly navigate the challenges that the new normal brings. It could even lead to a new growth strategy that should work in this new future we’re facing.
The example highlighted is how Spotify managed to survive the lack of advertising dollars or the shortage thereof during the pandemic. What they did was to offer original content and own quite a few copyrights, cashing in on these and keeping the company afloat even with the absence of their top profit source.
Research people to do business with
At a time like this, people need each other to move their businesses forward. There are other people who are also looking to grow their brands even with the pandemic around, so why not contact these people to work with them?
Consider the ‘influencers’ that are currently proliferating the virtual marketplace. There are those who partner with celebrities. It’s a good strategy since celebrities are already influencers even before there was such a word. Giveaway packs are also big during this time; it helps promote awareness of your brand, and you’re also sort of helping, in a way.
Level with your customers when doing business
A good business knows that they have to make their customers feel as if they’re personally preferred and it’s easier to do that these days. All you have to do is to maintain a social media account. Anyone has a simple social media account now, so it’s easier to reach out to potential customers about promos and different freebies.
During this time, people are feeling a bit uncertain. You can level further with your customers and acknowledge their uncertainties about the pandemic. You can also assure them that your service remains the same, even if there is a pandemic.
Study up on effective online selling
Most businesses have shifted their services and products online, so it’s a good idea to do this too. You should also brush up on your virtual selling skills. Do you have what it takes to sell online? If you do, then you should try to practice that before you go create a virtual ad campaign.
A good piece of advice when selling online is to be upfront with your product’s value or what your service can offer. With online marketing being the age it is, there are lots of already available sources you can readily read up on. Studying should be your priority since you’re also staying at home.
There are many other methods to sell online. You can send people some freebie packages if you have a product you can spare, or you can send them different feelers and online flyers about your services. Selling is not so much an art as it is a simple job — you just have to make it clear to people about what you’re selling.
