How To Not Only Survive The Pandemic, But To Thrive During It As Well
Getting Your Business Online Is Key
There’s no way around it – the COVID-19 pandemic has officially disrupted everything that we once knew about our world. Today, businesses are shuttered, some forever, while others are simply trying to survive by shifting their resources online, moving their workers remote, and offering new services to try and retain their audiences. With no clear end to the pandemic in sight just yet, it’s time for businesses to begin refocusing their efforts on not just surviving the pandemic, but thriving during it.
As a business owner, you might be thinking to yourself, “how could it be possible for a business to thrive during the pandemic?” Well, you might be surprised just how profitable you can make your business, even in this strange new landscape.
In this comprehensive article, we’re going to introduce you to some important and critical measures you can take to position your business for success not just today, but tomorrow and well into the future too. It is possible to thrive during the pandemic, and we’ll show you the right steps to take to ensure that it happens for your business.
Where Do The Challenges Lie?
Currently, there are some general challenges that all businesses across industries and throughout the world are facing. These are important commonalities to make note of, because they’re surely affecting your business as well, in one way or another.
According to Deloitte, the “top 3 significant business impacts” during the pandemic revolve around supply chain capabilities, customer and audience engagement, and financing/business continuity. In other words, are you able to get your products into the hands of your customers quickly and at a price that makes sense for your business. From there, are your customers engaged with your brand? And lastly, do you have the proper financial structure to move forward?
With that in mind, let’s talk about some steps that you can take to bypass supply chain issues, to drive customer and audience engagement further than ever before, and to bring in new revenue to support your business continuity efforts.
Step 1: Restructure Your Operations
No matter if you’re an entrepreneur or a small business, the first thing you need to do is restructure your operations and ensure that they align with the restrictions currently in place in this pandemic landscape that we find ourselves in.
In other words – if your profits come from on-site sales, find a way to shift them to online sales. If you offer a service, you can continue to offer that service in a way that protects and follows social distancing guidelines, mask-wearing, etc.
In terms of the supply chain – would selling direct to consumer provide you with a faster and clearer way forward? In other words, move away from ordering inventory to stock your shelves because your customers simply can’t come and pay you a visit to shop your products. Instead, set up a Direct to Consumer strategy where your customers can log onto your website, place an order, and have it shipped directly to them from your manufacturer. And in the meantime, sell your in-store inventory online too for faster sales.
Step 2: Accelerate And Embrace The Use of Social Media
We live in a world that is growing increasingly absorbed with the digital space. Social media is king in today’s world, and as a business leader, avoiding it could be catastrophic for your efforts to survive the pandemic and thrive during it. This means that accelerating and embracing the use of social media during this time is not only preferable, but it’s absolutely critical.
Right now, the only real way to engage with your customers and your potential audience is to do it digitally. Remember, if people can’t come into your store, it’ll be difficult to engage with them. After all, you can only place so many cold calls throughout the day. Instead, if you focus your efforts on social media, you can engage with your target audience virtually 24/7, 365 days a year.
One of the best ways to go about embracing the use of social media would be to design a comprehensive content plan, full of rich and engaging content that would pique the interest of your current customers, as well as potential leads in your orbit. This doesn’t mean spending thousands on a new marketing plan – it simply means marketing your brand, being human, and offering something relatable on the web. It doesn’t take a brain surgeon to figure out how to create a brand identity that your customers can connect with – it just takes some time, effort, and authenticity.
Step 3: Reimagine Your Services
Lastly, another step you can take to ensure that you can actually build your business up during the pandemic is to reimagine your services. For instance, subscription services are becoming increasingly popular – and that makes sense considering so many of us are stuck at home. Restaurants are promoting take-out over in-person dining, retail stores are offering delivery services, and service providers are making COVID-friendly house calls.
It’s possible to reimagine your services during the pandemic to ensure that you, your workers, and your customers feel safe and comfortable. All it takes is some problem solving.
Don’t Forget – As A Business Owner, You’re A Natural Problem Solver
If you own a business, then you’re a problem solver – even if you don’t see yourself that way all the time. Think about it, starting a business comes with recognizing a problem, a gap in the market, or room for further exploration – and by establishing your business, offering your services, or selling your products, you’re attempting to provide the market with a solution to that problem.
Use this as some much-needed inspiration and motivation to solve the biggest problem that businesses all around the world are facing today – how do we not only survive the pandemic, but how can we ensure that we thrive?
With the three steps outlined in this article, you can begin to brainstorm some ideas on how you can solve the problems that the pandemic continues to throw at us each and every day. Again, with no end in sight, it’s absolutely critical that you take action now to keep your business afloat and strategically position it for sustainable success today, tomorrow, and well into the future.