17 strategic commercial pivots to make in times of COVID-19

Your Coronavirus Essentials Checklist

Thus we wake up in a different world! The coronavirus epidemic has completely changed our lives and transformed the way we do business.

For many, this can be an incredibly scary time to be a business owner.

You worry about the health of your employees and the business, the bills that keep coming, your income and family obligations.

But instead of letting worries overwhelm them, savvy small business owners can use this opportunity to plan and prepare for future growth and success.

That’s why we’ve created a COVID-19 checklist to help you make the most of this uncertain time:

1) Announce changes in business hours.

Are you an essential business that remains open? You may have shorter business hours to allow more time for cleaning, or senior hours where older and high-risk customers can safely come and shop with fewer customers.

Post any new business hours on the front of your physical location and share it on the home page of your website.

Don’t forget to update your hours on your social media profiles as well as your Google Business listing so everyone can stay up to date.

2) Pivot to meet the current needs of your customers

Find creative ways to do business with customers who are at home in quarantine. Are you offering pickup or delivery? Let customers know what you are doing to accommodate them during this new and hopefully temporary normal.

For example, in the midst of closures and shelter-in-place orders, most car dealerships will deliver your new car to you. Similarly, service-based businesses can target their offerings to meet the demands of stay-at-home customers.

One example is the home page we designed for Barbara Katnich, an interior designer at Fresh Approach Designs.

She reckons that with all this time on her hands she’s probably ready for a design change. She will then walk you through the process of how she can work with you virtually while you are at home.

The advantage of a landing page is that it’s quick, easy, and allows you to talk about the specific needs of customers right now without having to redesign the entire website.

3) Provide ways customers can still support you

If you operate a service-based business like a restaurant or salon and have been forced to close its doors, you may want to consider offering online sales of gift certificates.

Encourage your customers to purchase a certificate now so they can treat themselves and redeem it when the virus outbreak has slowed and their self-quarantine period is over.

This can help keep sales for you, while giving your customers something fun and exciting to look forward to.

4) Communicate with your customers.

People want to know if and how their business has changed in light of the pandemic. Assure them that their health and safety are your primary concern, and tell them what you are doing to ensure a safe shopping experience.

Explain any extra precautions you are taking to sanitize and clean and let them know how you are promoting social distancing as a small business owner.

5) Advertise any new services you are offering.

Whether you sell food or fashion, do you offer pickup or delivery? The more ways you can accommodate your customers during this new normal, the better for them and the less financial loss you’ll experience.

Share the news on your website and social media accounts like Lorie Brown did. She saw a great need to support nurses and healthcare professionals during this crisis and created the COVID-19 Survival Guide.

She asked us to help her create a multi-guest interview series that offers daily videos to subscribers, all for free.

6) Get rid of outdated information and broken links.

It’s the perfect time to take a step back and take a long, hard look at your website.

Are there typos? Did a team member featured on the About Us page resign? Are some articles no longer relevant?

Maybe your site is too outdated and needs a complete overhaul. Don’t try to go it alone, it’s best to hire a professional web development company who can help you ensure your site is done professionally to give your business the best exposure once this crisis is over.

7) Lighten the workload (remote).

Give your staff easy ways to track their hours, like the free Toggl time tracking tool we use. Encourage team communication with tools like Zoom, Slack or Discord. Look to team collaboration tools like Monday and Asana to manage project workflows.

You can see more team tools in our article: Tips for Managing Your Workforce Remotely.

8) Get skinny and bad.

You’re going to have to accept that things may be tense for a while. Are there some non-essential items you could cut out of your small business budget?

Re-evaluate the services you use to make sure you’re getting the best value for your money, but don’t buckle down so much that you miss out on business or marketing opportunities.

9) Plan your editorial calendar.

You want to provide your customers with informative and valuable content that inspires them and builds your expertise and credibility in their eyes.

If you have any downtime now, spend it on your future content. Take a look at what products and services you’ll want to promote in the future, and plan some compelling content and marketing materials to support your efforts.

10) Learn a new skill.

Do you want to learn how to use Instagram more effectively? Maybe you want to master your video marketing skills or learn a new language to better communicate with your customers.

If you can slow down a bit, take the opportunity to read, learn and grow! This might be a good time to check out our AMPLiFY! Business Academy, where members get instant access to a huge library of training videos, from social media marketing to lead generation to content marketing.

11) Make your employees feel safe.

Always communicate your COVID-19 plans to workers around sick days and compensation. If your employees have to go to work, reassure them how you keep their area clean and safe.

They hope you feel cared for during this scary time. That being said, don’t lie or keep negative information; if you can’t give bonuses or have to lay off staff, let them know as soon as possible and support them the best you can.

12) Drive more traffic to your site.

It’s always a great idea to add new and useful content to your website. Your visitors will appreciate solution-focused content that speaks honestly about why they need your product or service.

Focus on writing some keyword-rich articles to improve your search engine rankings.

13) Increase your followers on social networks.

You may be self-isolating, but you can go online! Send messages to people who liked or commented on your posts on social media to start a conversation.

Be active in Facebook groups where your ideal clients meet. Be visible and helpful (not commercial or annoying) as you make new connections and offer people a human connection.

14) Segment your email list.

Over time, email lists can get messy. Small business owners may lack the resources to write targeted messages to each group of potential customers (eg, attractive prospects, warm prospects, new prospects, business colleagues).

Focus on segmenting your email list so that people feel like you are speaking directly to them and offering them unique content.

15) Develop a new product or service.

Maybe you have a business idea that has been on the back burner for the past few years. Or maybe you have identified a product or service that would really help people during or after the COVID-19 pandemic.

Take a look at what Heather Wilson has done to meet today’s demand to use Facebook Groups to benefit businesses. She quickly created an online course called Create, Fill, and Engage in her Facebook group.

16) Conduct competitive research.

Staying on top of what your competitors are doing gives you an incredible advantage, whether you’re running an established small business or developing a new product or service.

Spend some time now to better understand your competitors. How are their messages different from yours? What are your strengths and weaknesses? How do they interact with their followers on social media?

17) Share the love.

Don’t miss the opportunity to strengthen your most important relationships. Think about the people who are important to you (family, friends, customers, vendors, mentors, partners) and tell them what you appreciate most about them!

Stay engaged with customers and keep sales alive during COVID-19.

While the COVID-19 pandemic is unprecedented and uncertain, let’s try to view these slow times for small businesses as an opportunity to think, review, and plan for future growth and success.

If you need help, we can help you design a landing page to help you transition and effectively support your customers at this time. Together we will find ways to fuel the decline in sales due to this unforeseen economic crisis.

We wish everyone health and safety during this unusual time.

for your success,

Suzanne