IS NOW THE PERFECT TIME TO INVEST IN YOUR BUSINESS? SEIZE THE OPPORTUNITY FOR GROWTH AND SUCCESS

Businesses were ready to take on 2020 in full force and then… everything changed to uncertainty.

Marketing budgets in a time of crisis often can be the first cut, however, understanding the long term impact on doing this can massively affect your business and have long term consequences. Pausing or slowing down marketing activity can be damaging. As lowering your online presence when your business needs it the most is not the best solution.

Not only this but when everything goes back to semi-normal, restarting your marketing activity in a crowded market could be costly and time-consuming.

So, in this time of uncertainty, it’s now a marketers time to protect their brand and instead of cutting marketing activity realign plans and adapt the way they communicate to their customers.

It’s clear that COVID-19 is significantly impacting businesses around the world, which makes it the perfect time for business owners and entrepreneurs to shift the focus toward internal marketing efforts.

So, What Can You Do To Keep Your Business Front Of Mind? 

Think Long Term Rather Short Term

Yes in the short term it seems a sensible idea to save budget and pause all activity, however, it’s the businesses that invest in their marketing that will pass the test of time and will prosper in the long term.

The key is to realign your marketing strategy and re-evaluate where you need to focus your attention. Staying at the forefront of your customer’s minds whilst considering their needs and providing value will help you prosper in the long run. Thinking about how you can benefit your clients, how can you help them.

 

New Website

The key to moving forward is innovating and adapting to changes. You may have had to put off starting a new website for your company due to time restraints in the past. This is the perfect time to invest resources into refining the ideal website for your business so that the site is all set to launch when things start to get back to normal.

Creating a new website involves a variety of components that must be taken into consideration. Some of which include design, development, coding, mobile-friendliness, content management, SEO basics, analytics, and much more. Whether a lead-generating website or eCommerce, take advantage of an experienced web design and development team to make sure your new website is ready to go in the coming months.

 

Online Marketing

While ad spend may be down overall across various platforms, there is still a significant amount of traffic coming from search engines. This is especially true with most people working from home now.  In fact, it has been reported that internet activity has drastically increased between 50%-70%.

In addition, the overall reduced ad spend means that there is less competition bidding for the top spots in Google, Bing, and other search engines. This is the ideal time to get in front of potential new business at a lower cost per clicks or impressions.

In regard to organic search marketing, businesses should start investing in search engine optimization (SEO) now to pass those who may have taken their foot off the gas during this time. Since SEO can take a few months to see top-ranking results, businesses should consult with a qualified SEO agency to come up with a comprehensive strategy to position themselves in the top spots of Google and other search engines.

 

Social Media

Perhaps an area that is seeing the most growth in usage is social media, especially Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, YouTube, and TikTok.

In fact, people are spending about 20% more time on social media apps in general. Both Facebook and Instagram have seen a 40% increase in usage, while YouTube has seen a 500% increase in views since March 15.

Take advantage of this increased usage by creating a strategic social media strategy on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, and make sure it includes both content and ads to reach your relevant target audience. Use an experienced social media agency to help set up video advertising on YouTube or other video platforms.

 

Targeted Emails

With so many people working from home nowadays, email open rates are increasing.

Use this to your advantage and run targeted email campaigns for your specific industry.

These are just a few of the ways in which you can be proactive and get ahead while times are slow. As I, myself, am working from home with fewer meetings, feel free to take advantage of my expertise and schedule a complimentary consultation with our Managing Director – James.

While other things may have come to a halt in the world, take advantage of where the people are now.

If things have slowed down working IN your business because of COVID-19, now is the time to work ON your business.