23. January 2021

Keeping Your Business Going During Covid

The Last Thing You Should Do During the Pandemic is Become Invisible

At a recent networking event – virtual of course – I had the opportunity to talk with several business owners and managers. They each had their own story to tell related to running a business during Covid. For some, it's business as usual. Others have been able to pivot their focus and capture business that is still needed during the pandemic.

Some businesses are thriving, but many are struggling. When a business struggles with declining revenue streams, cuts are likely to be made to expenses. Often, one of the first budgets to be cut is marketing. Cutting the budget is to be expected, but eliminating your marketing budget is a big mistake.

Whether you are a solopreneur, a small business or middle-market enterprise, the last thing you want to do is be invisible. Why? Your clients may think that you are out of business or not interested in doing business with them.

Rather than doing away with all marketing, do something. There are lots of cost-effective ways to keep your name out there. At the very least, maintain some level of brand awareness to support sales efforts. Social media is one low-cost way to do this. Focus your active social media marketing on where the largest segment of your audience hangs out.

Continue with tactics that give you the biggest bang for the buck. One of my favorites is something I call the trifecta of marketing: having written a blog, add it to your website helping to keep the content fresh, email it to your customer/prospect list, and share it on social media.

Perhaps take on marketing functions internally. If you’ve had an agency executing campaigns, writing blogs or sending emails, move what you can inside your organization while things are slow. You can always go back to outsourcing it.

If you become invisible now, you may be out of business in the not-too-distant future. Even if your business survives, it will take you longer and require a bigger investment to bring your business back. By then your customers may have gone with your competitor.

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