Today, we’re all coping in one way or another. Some are seeing business flourish even in the time of pandemic, while others are watching business slow or close. No matter, we’re all facing significant change, multiple unknowns, predictable unpredictability, and a brand new landscape both at home, online, at work, within our families/communities and around the world.
If you’re not adept at adaptation, this may be the time to start practicing. And the content below may help with that.
If you are in fact adept at adaptation, this post is definitely for you. Because these times call for adaptation, resourcefulness, observation, learning, and empathy. All of which define good marketing.
Number One
Get out there now. I don’t mean outside. I mean get out in front of your audience online. Starting in early to mid-March, we saw a lot of companies “getting out there” via email. There were too many bad emails. These bad emails came from familiar and unfamiliar companies letting us know how they sanitized stores or offices, etc. To me and many, these emails felt pandering, premature and ironically untimely.
During this time, I selectively decided which of these emails I actually wanted to open - from trusted companies I engage with regularly - and I was impressed by their responses to the pandemic:
The leader, CEO, Owner, audience-facing representative of the company came forward to address first what they personally were doing in her/his life amidst crisis. This person acknowledged everyone was facing unknowns - and most likely facing those unknowns at home and possibly alone.
Then, this person related the services or products of their company back to the need of the audience (stuck at home and/or socially distancing). Framing the offer as a solution or activity at home or while socially distancing shifted the service to relevant and helpful. “Oh yeah - kayaking is a great activity right now which I can do alone.”
Also, the company leader made a video, offered a personal photo, and/or provided a DIY/how-to related to their offer.
A “pay what you can” or a suggested sliding scale for pricing, discounts or donations to organizations were also common but are not required. See Number Three below.
Additionally, this spokesperson talked from the heart, showed vulnerability, admitted to unknowns and shared some of their inner dialogue. I was left reading or watching these communications with a better connection. This approach in marketing is important now and always.
A restaurant in a big city with a notable chef who makes fantastic bread is one company I observed. I ask you: who’s home right now making bread? Answer: your cousin, your friend, your mom, and her brother. So this worthy baker decide to make a video of his sourdough process. I’m not a bread-maker but I learned a few things. Needless to say, they’ve since delivered a lot of their own homemade bread (they likely would have sold a lot of bread regardless, but the personal interaction from the baker himself helped).
Number Two
Pivot your business. Take Under Armor for example. Today they’re making face masks. They have the manufacturing knowledge, the workforce and access to materials. And most importantly there is a market demand for face masks. This business adaptation is called pivoting. Yet, Under Armor’s business model is not actually changing. They’re simply offering a new product or service based on market demand which they’ll be offering while maintaining the fundamental platform of their business. In addition to outdoor running gear for the body, they’re now offering an (outdoor) face mask for the body.
Another place we see this: again, restaurants. Instead of offering dine-in, many restaurants now have curbside pick up or delivery. This act is called pivoting.
Or, say you’re an interior designer, a job which used to require time inside another person’s home. One thing I’ve seen and loved is the Master Class promotions on IG. In March I noticed this company quickly pivoted to promoting Master Classes related to Home Decorating (among other things). Because who’s working on home reno projects right now? You, your cousin, your mom and her brother.
So, if you’re an interior designer what better way to build trust with your audience than to provide streaming videos of your tips and tricks. No one knows your skills better than you, and right now even more people want to know what you know. Everyone is looking for things to do.
Keep in mind here’s little reason this kind of video-practice can’t lead to a paid Facetime/Zoom call with a new client. Next Pivot: the client provides you with a virtual tour of their home and you offer paid advice, online resources and your trained eye.
Gently shift your offer, nurture your audience and they will come.
Number Three
Right now, you can still make money generously even when your competition is giving away products and services for free. For small businesses, this ‘economy of free’ can create a severely uneven and competitive space. But it’s ok to make money even when your competition is giving everything away. A few tasteful and approachable options:
“We’ve decided not to lower the prices of X but we are committed to donating a portion of the proceeds to Y organization. We thank you for your support. Your dollars keep us going during this difficult and swiftly changing time. Plus a portion of your funds will help a nonprofit fight the spread of COVID 19 (or whatever their socially-relevant goal may be).” Explicitly state the exact percentage of the donation for complete transparency.
“We will be donating all proceeds from the sale of X for the next three months to Y.” (In this case, after the specified period of time, your company shifts the profits/proceeds back to your bottom line).
Offer a Sliding Scale, stating that you understand in this time not everyone can afford what you offer, but many may still want it/need it. Some people right now can very much afford what you offer and may want to pay as a demonstration of their support.
Test any of the above. If one process is not working, shift to another. Giving away tools and services for free is helpful. Yet your company will not survive on Free. So perhaps think: “How can I make money generously.”
Number Four
Build build build your presence online - not just social. Ok, so if you’re a restaurant, here you won’t be able to compete with content alone on your site. The restaurant space is packed, and going in too much detail, just trust me. SEO for restaurants is hard (when a static menu is really your biggest content). But Google Business can be a restaurant’s friend, and every companies friend.
So restaurants, old and new, this is a time to ask your audience for Google Reviews. You’re feeding your audience through a crisis and they are VERY grateful and want to keep helping you in return. So, ask for Google Reviews. This process doesn’t even have to be an ask if that kind of thing makes you uncomfortable. You can suggest it - “hey thanks for all your support. If you really liked what we did and loved the food head over to our Google Reviews page at_______ and leave us a review. This will help us!” Or: screenshot a positive Google Review you already have and post it to IG Stories which may entice others or inspire them to do the same.
Why are you doing this? Because Google Reviews = more business. When you search for a place to eat or shop and a list of companies show up on page 1 of relevant search results - which company do you trust more? The one with two reviews or the one with dozens and dozens of reviews - especially 5-star.
For other businesses, the beauty of Search Engine Optimization doesn’t come via just reviews. SEO means you can attract more clients/business to your site by adding more content to that site (among other things). This content needs to be loaded with “keywords and phrases” relevant to your line of work. In implementing these keywords and phrases, you help your site become more relevant in search results. That’s the short explanation for SEO. Contact me if you find this process intriguing and relevant to your business (I promise, it is).
Also, back to Google Business. Make sure you have Google Business. Please, please. Follow the simple steps and prompts and invest your time in this. Google Business is essentially the basic process of ensuring the contact information of your business is accurate and available to the public. You want the public, ie your audience to easily find your physical location if you have one, plus you want your audience and prospective clients/customers call your business if that’s an option. This kind of listing is essentially what we used to have in the Yellow Pages but today is maxed out for contemporary times (you can add photos, your logo, links, enlist reviews, etc to your own Google Business listing). Decades ago if you weren’t in the Yellow Pages, you didn’t exist. Same today with Google Business (fortunately/unfortunately).
SEO can also mean getting your business listed on other platforms like Yelp, Squarespace, Bing, etc (but you have to do the manual work). The more your business is listed with links back to your site, the more traffic you’re driving there. And this traffic tells search engines that your site is a busy place and perhaps worthy of visits from other people. In the most simplistic terms, this is part of how Google ranks your company in search results.
Good luck. Stay focused. Remain flexible and pay attention to your audience. They say what they want if you listen.