How To Make Your Business Thrive During Covid-19
All businesses have been affected by the coronavirus pandemic, with some collapsing and others barely breaking even. Thriving during such a trying time is on top of many businesses’ priority list. And as the second wave hits, it is time for entrepreneurs to become more proactive, innovative and reach their clients wherever they may be. A multi-dimensional approach is essential, for example, focussing on marketing alone and ignoring other business elements will result in stifled growth. Here is how to make your business thrive during Covid-19.
Financial strategy
Some businesses were lucky enough to get some economic relief from their governments, which kept them afloat. But it is essential to develop a totally new financial strategy if you are to survive and thrive during this pandemic. Consider these tips when putting together a financial strategy.
- Go digital and reduce overhead
As technology advances, so must your business; otherwise, you may not make as much profit as expected, if any at all. Going digital involves incorporating systems into your work processes that make things more efficient while reducing hard work. It starts with reviewing these processes and deciding which ones might need an upgrade. This will drastically reduce your input and increase your output. For example, consider including delivery or pickup options in your business approach. Data from studies indicate that online order with in-store pickups has increased exponentially from August 2019 to August 2020 by a whopping 259%.
- Restructure your budget
Any business’s continued survival in the current economic climate will heavily depend on business plans and budgetary allocations. You can design a healthy budget by cutting out things that are not important. Some people think that aesthetics indicates that a business is doing well. But that is an unnecessary expenditure that will lock up capital that could be used to improve the business.
The type of business you engage in and your business approach will heavily influence your budget. Restructure your budget to ensure that you are making the right plans for your business. Some things you should consider are securing low-cost marketing avenues with higher profits, reading the trends, and predicting financial situations, and using Debt snowball methods to pay off small debts. You will also need to get rid of unnecessary services and subscriptions that do not benefit you, reduce employee overtime, and improve cash flow by invoice factoring.
As much as possible, decrease expenses and generate revenue, and you will be fine. You will see a turn in fortunes in no time if you commit to this. When things return to normal, you can readjust your budget to suit the times.
Business strategy
You must change your current business model to suit the prevailing conditions of the market. If you want to grow and thrive in these times, you must adopt an approach that will satisfy the customer’s needs. Being rigid in these times will most likely lead to the collapse of your business. So be flexible, and understand the needs of the customer. That way, you will be able to tailor solutions that the customers will appreciate. Consider these ideas to help you re-strategize your business approach.
- Establish an online presence
Even before the onset of the pandemic, some businesses were ditching the brick and mortar physical offices and moving online. Creating a presence online allowed them to reach a wider pool of clients while making profits. Many businesses never considered prioritizing going online. But the pandemic has shown that businesses can indeed thrive online. So make provisions and invest in getting your business online. You may even be able to cut costs spent on rent and utility bills yearly. Unless you are a specialized business that needs to have an office or custom industrial sheds then it won’t be necessary to abandon your physical space altogether. But it will still be beneficial to have a solid presence online.
The two most vital things you will need to establish yourself online are websites and social media platforms. The website will become the fulcrum around which your business will run, and social media will enable you to interact and engage with your customers and potential clients. Be sure you have a blog on your website as it drives more traffic and increases your Alexa ranking. With social media, identify which ones best suit your business and then begin to build your profile and brand. The platforms you cannot do without are Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, as the numbers and the level of engagement are really high on those platforms.
After acquiring these components, it doesn’t end there. You would have to create content on those platforms to keep your customers engaged. This information must be relevant to your industry and beneficial or valuable to your audience.
- Plan for the unexpected
Focusing on getting through these trying times is great, but you should also look into the future. Most businesses find themselves unable to survive in this climate in the first place because they did not plan. If they had, they would not have closed down or needed external financial assistance.
As much as possible when making plans and projections, make provision for the future, including possible worst-case scenarios. This means being proactive in identifying problems before they occur. For example, you can consider decreasing the prices of popular products and services. Perhaps you could also give customers limited access to some special offers. These customers will appreciate the value of this and will be willing to spend a premium when they have some extra cash.
Customer strategy
Customers make or break your business, and this is the time to really improve your game and provide them with the solutions they need. To do that, take a look at the following tips.
- Identify their peculiar needs
So many things have changed for the customer, from purchasing behavior, drop in spending power, shopping experience, and others. The same goes for businesses that the customer frequents. So, it is practical for businesses to identify the customers’ needs and satisfy them. Other things you might want to consider may include temporal price reductions for certain periods, free deliveries, streamlining the online shopping experience, and offering discount codes and promos or free tokens of Covid-19 essentials.
- Change your marketing approach
At this moment, customers are not enthused about anything that does not ease their lives during the pandemic and lockdown. Understanding this position is the key to marketing to them appropriately. Use their needs to draw up a marketing strategy that will get them to purchase from you. Focus on building an emotional connection between your brand and the customer. Such a relationship will create user affection for your products and services, ensuring that they patronize your business. You can employ social media to advance this marketing approach.
To thrive during Covid-19, you simply cannot keep conducting business as usual. You must adapt and develop new strategies to remain relevant. Make the right decisions and properly redefine your approach to finances, business, and customer service.
