Wow… the past several weeks have been surreal. So much has happened in our lives, so much emotion and uncertainty. Even as we get used to the “new” normal, the uncertainty of the future still looms over us.
Admittedly, the first few weeks during the pandemic, I struggled emotionally and mentally on how to approach my business. People were dying at rapid rates, companies were furloughing and laying off employees, a worldwide financial destruction was looming.
Who really cared about marketing, right?
Now that I’ve come out of my fog (slightly) … I am starting to see things differently. As I listen to news reports about the importance of small businesses to our economy and more phone calls from new clients begin to come in for marketing help, I realize that this was not the time to back down from marketing, but to ramp up marketing efforts.
Below are a few lessons learned over the past several weeks:
1.) Digital Marketing – Every business should seek to have a digital presence. Even if the presence is not perfect, it is important to be found and connected to your audience in various ways. If you are relying on your audience primarily by events, networking lunches or dinners, you probably found yourself a little lost. Digital marketing is more critical than ever.
2.) E-Commerce – Creating something to sell online and extend your services and brand is important. Most of my clients sell or offer a service. However, I do encourage all my clients to think of a product to add to their services. This can be a book, candle, clothing, hair products… anything. Having another option for selling is critical.
3.) Social Media – When the world shuts down – everyone turned to social media for content and information. LinkedIn usage increased by 52% over the past month. Many people who had a presence on social media, but was not actively using it, suddenly found themselves trying to figure it out.
4.) Business goes on. It truly does. And it needs too. The economy is a powerful thing and affects everyone in varoius ways (financial, emotionally, physically, etc.) But even in the depths of a recession, there is continued investment and new spending. We want to be a part of that spending, therefore NOW is the time to build your pipeline.
Go visit and like my FB page this weekend. I will share a video on tips to improve your marketing during a crisis. There are may things we should consider doing.
Oh.. and if you have time – check out my online time management course for working marketing into your business and life. Lots of practical tips! Click here to start your online course.
If you need assistance with your marketing efforts, please reach out to me! I would love to chat with you.
like a person… you can’t expect them to “like” you or show your page, if you only come to talk about yourself and leave. Set a timer and spend time liking and commenting on other posts. Facebook is watching.
passions and strengths. This is excellent! However, we often are so focused on starting the business that we forget to pay attention to who we are selling to, including their needs, desires and burdens. We sometimes stop at just describing the demographics of our target audience. However, there is more to knowing your audience than their age or demographics. How do they purchase? What keeps them up at night? Where do they consume information? What do they follow and like on social media? It is critically important to know your audience.
Bloomingdales. Getting really specific in your marketing and brand position, helps you to build a marketing plan that is sure to work. It helps to create niche marketing, which can be helpful in branding yourself and growing your business.