Marketing Your Business Online During The Coronavirus

Life changed on March 10th.

All of our lives have been brought to almost a standstill by Coronavirus, and now more than ever businesses need to harness social media to stay connected with and expand their customer base. About 70% of the economy relies on consumers and buying behavior shifted when COVID-19 became a pandemic. We've all seen the reports in the news of businesses going out of business in the last few weeks and other businesses struggling to stay in business. Your doors may be closed, but you can be open online. If there was ever a time to take a step back and reevaluate your digital strategies, now is the time. Because how businesses handle the coronavirus will separate the pros from the amateurs; the survivors from those who succumb.

Digital is our business and we are here to help. So we came up with some strategies you may have not thought of trying to market your business online so you stay top of mind.

Tips On Marketing Your Business Online During The Coronavirus

All 6 of these tips can be adjusted to fit your business.

1. E-Commerce Your Website:

If your website was already able to accept online orders, then take a second look and see if there are any ways you can improve the e-commerce portion of your site. Add more items, update some item photos, refresh their descriptions and titles for SEO. And if you are new to making your site e-commerce, try it out. You can also call on us to help you set things up to save you time.

Also, depending on your business, if you aren't on GrubHub or another popular mainstream platform for making online orders, think about getting listed on one. This is a great time to get fully digitally accessible to people.

2. Social Media Live Videos:

Broadcast live from behind the scenes at your business; give people a glimpse at the people who make things possible. #1 have fun, be informative, and remember it doesn't have to be perfect; just be yourself. The most popular live video platforms are Facebook, Instagram, and Snapchat.

3. Vlog and Blog:

You don't have to write a blog post everyday, but as changes occur for your business (i.e. special promotions, etc.) and you get ideas for subjects to write about that are relevant to your business, write! Also, make sure you include photos as much as you can and have your posts be search optimized (we can help with that by the way).

If you're not really into writing, vlog! Have someone you work with record you or use your computer to record yourself (like how Tim Allen's character in the TV show Last Man Standing does his Outdoor Man vlog). Talk to the camera like you are talking to a good friend. Stay relevant to your unique business offerings, but don't be afraid to show your personality. Again, it doesn't have to be perfect, and you don't have to do it every day. Upload your video to YouTube or Vimeo, then embed it on your website, then share the link to the post on social media. You want to bring people to your website so they can learn more about you and hopefully convert into a new customer for you.

4. Make More Time For Social Media Posts

Examples:

Share knowledge

The following came from marketing veteran Dale Obrochta. Dale lays out great social media tips for restaurants during this quarantine on YouTube.

- how to keep food from spoiling
- how to use leftovers
- fun food designs
- disinfecting tips that restaurant use to keep things clean
- create training videos —phone orders, dealing with customers—show off customer service
- funny bio about staff and/or owner
- staff favorite food —the good, the bad, and the ugly

Keep your customers informed about changes to your business (i.e. new hours, etc.)
Share what you’re doing (donating supplies? share about it. share things you are doing that are relevant to your business)
Share how you’re keeping customers safe
Share why you appreciate them
Share about new coupon certificates or promotions
Contests
- Example, social distancing contest:
  - how far do you eat from your family?
  - how will you travel/ship food?
  - Best family/food picture — funny
Encourage employees to be creative on their personal social media accounts

Let staff go wild with ideas —they will be more creative than your managers. Re-share their posts and/or stories.

5. Use LinkedIn To Connect With Vendors

Find out how vendors can help you with a promotion. Maybe they can give you a better deal on something they usually sell you.

6. Make It Easy For Customers To Contact You

Communicate the ways customers can reach you. If you choose to make contacting your business page through Facebook Messenger an option, make sure to have someone devoted to checking to see if anyone has sent a message. Customer service is always important, so make sure to put your best foot forward.

With the Stay At Home mandates around the world, some may have difficulty transitioning to working remotely, but not us. We can act faster, stronger, and easier because we are used to working remote. Whether it's providing consulting via Zoom video chat or over the phone, we can be there for you. We can be the one managing your website and social media, or we can advise and assist you or your team. By helping you, we are helping everyone, because together we can weather this challenging time.

Marketing and advertising send a clear message that you are strong, you have a plan, and you will survive! Providing that level of confidence alleviates the fears created by uncertainty and bolsters employee retention in the process. Businesses that remain highly active during this crisis will certainly hit the ground running at full-speed, post-crisis. It should come as no surprise that your competitors will have a more challenging time ramping up and catching up!

We will continue to make things work for our clients. We will continue to adapt with technology, the bread and butter of Geoffresh.

If you have a business or know of businesses looking for some help during this difficult time, like getting their e-commerce site set up, figuring out technical stuff, etc. we are offering one 30 minute free virtual assistance or consultation to each business that contacts during this pandemic to help. If the stay-at-home order is prolonged, we will be extending this. It can be the smallest thing or the biggest thing someone needs help with. Time slots are filling up quickly.

Geoffresh Free Consult During Coronavirus Quarantine

Elements of the above graphic were provided by freepik - www.freepik.com

Details: Written by: Stephanie Pyrzynski; Published: March 26, 2020