Caught up in a crisis? Challenge the norms, beat the market, and compete to survive!
If you think your business is the only one crumpling, you are wrong. The sudden outbreak of the novel coronavirus has posed a considerable number of threats for businesses in almost every industry. The problems are severer for startups that just commenced business a short time before the start of the pandemic.
Businesses have suffered losses owing to the sudden change in consumer demands, low income leading to lower aggregate demand, and the imposition of lockdowns that has wholly halted the businesses. The luxurious goods and services industries are amongst the most impacted ones. And you knew yours was not the only one.
Is there any good news for you, at all?
Yes. The only industries that are growing are the food industry and the healthcare and very rightly so. People are staying at home, and food consumption has increased quite dramatically. Moreover, people are panic purchasing, too, leading to greater sales.
Research shows that the food industry has experienced a growth of almost 60%. Furthermore, healthcare has also seen an approximately 20% growth because of the additional healthcare requirements during the current pandemic.
Now, you must be wondering what exactly is wrong then? Construction, real estate, and travel industries have seen a fall in growth rate (i.e., decline) as these industries are more luxurious. No one wants to invest in real estate right now, and traveling is restricted across the world. Sigh!
So, should you, as a marketer, just sit back?
Although times are tough and there is very little that seems to be worth doing to improve the business, there is still the possibility of thinking out of the box and being creative to kickstart your business again. Sounds like a fantasy, no?
Here are baby steps that can help you turn the tables around!
The business will have to adopt newer and better marketing practices during the Covid-19. A successful business is the one that adapts to the changing environment and changes itself, too, along with the situations. The current situation is an ideal example of this, and the Covid-19 outbreak calls for significant strategical changes in the businesses.
Following are some of the marketing tactics that can help revive your business during the prevailing challenging time:
Be Empathetic
You might think where did this come from? The time is not just tough for your business, but also for your customers. Your customers might be facing a tough time with their personal issues as well as with their own jobs and businesses.
So, what can your business do about that? In order to establish a good relationship with them and market your business well, it is extremely important that you be empathetic with them. Being empathetic will involve you in understanding the difficult position they are in and accommodating them in any way possible.
An example of acting on such a basis is to allow your customers a longer time to pay for the services they use. If the customers have been able to fulfill the payments on time for a long time, but they have recently been facing issues doing so, there is good enough chance that they are affected financially during this crisis.
To retain those customers, you will have to allow them some time. Apart from accepting late payments, you can also do several other things like delivering goods at home and providing customer service through video calls. Desperate times call for desperate measures, remember?
Give Discounts And Introduce Other Promotions
As already highlighted that people really are deep into financial crises, and everyone will appreciate a cost cut right now. Therefore, offer discounts and other promotions that allow the customers to enjoy more or equal amount of services at a lower price. Don’t frown!
Giving discounts might seem to be a costly action for your firm, but in the long run, you will surely benefit from it as your company is being advertised and word of mouth is mighty. Adding to this, even if you give a 10% or 20% discount, it will seem to be a big deal for the customers also though a 10% or 20% discount is not much.
Furthermore, even in the short term, sales at a discounted price is much better than no sales at all. I’m sure you agree!
Show You Online Presence
The online business and the e-payment systems are on the rise in the current era, especially during the current pandemic, which has instilled a fear of going out into people. The Covid-19 is a highly contagious disease, and people have stopped stepping out of their homes in order to be protected from contracting the disease. Would you go out for groceries?
A considerable proportion of the world population is under quarantine. So, this has given a rise in the online business as people are shopping online.
As can be seen from the graph, the US Store Visit conversions have dropped 90% during the current pandemic situation.
Hence, it is the best time for you to show your online presence correctly. Although the channels of your online advertisement will depend on the type of product you are selling, but social media websites such as Facebook and Instagram are usually the most effective ones.
Diversify
By reading the word diversify, the first thing that comes to mind is moving into a completely different business in order to expand the risks. However, here we will talk about a different type of diversification.
Definitely not up for investing, right? It is undoubtedly not an ideal time to step into a completely new business, but what you can do is provide services that are interconnected to your product offerings.
The services that you introduce can be in accordance with the current situation and might include keywords such as ‘lockdown,’ ‘stay home,’ and so on. One amazing example of such a strategy is YouTube’s adverts between videos in which a female voice is heard saying ‘stay home with me.’ Cool, no?
Another example can be of a company producing food items such as sauces, noodles, and so on. This type of company can start a series of short videos providing food recipes to people using their own food items. The series can be named something like ‘lockdown recipes. Let’s call this mouthwatering marketing!
Let Your Customers Enjoy
Aren’t you also bored of scrolling your newsfeed?
The current tough situations have not just resulted in financial issues but also a tough time for mental health. Several people are suffering from negative thoughts while staying at home, while others are incredibly bored.
Therefore, your company can provide something that might be able to cheer the people up. It can be anything. An example can be a short web series based on your product or somehow relating to your company. Another example can be to introduce some sort of competition.
If the company produces ready to eat meals or snacks, the competition can be to record videos of eating the food, and whoever eats the most in a specific specified time limit, wins.
This way not only will people enjoy, but your sales will also increase as people will have to buy our products to take part in the competition.
Additionally, these days, such things go very viral very quickly. So, if the competition goes viral or its videos go viral, your product will go viral too, and your company will benefit a lot. Excited already?
Be Open With Your Customers
Some people might believe that this is corporate suicide, and accepting its shortcomings will cause the company to lose its market share and go down the drains. However, the reality might differ drastically. Everyone is suffering currently, and everyone knows that it’s a difficult time to survive.
Surely, your customers know it too. Therefore, if there is something that is hindering your business and you believe that its effects are high and dangerous enough to affect your customers’ wellbeing or their overall experience, then you must inform your customers about it. Communication is key!
Being open with your customers will not only clarify your position with them but will also impose your company as a very responsible and honest one. Moreover, it will also add to your company’s corporate responsibility as the company is being fair and honest with its customer base.
Final Word
Are you ready? Although no one is denying that the time is adamant right now and surviving is very difficult, you must never stop trying. The tips mentioned above can highly increase your chances of not only surviving but also moving forward with your businesses.
All these things will not only let you survive in the short term but will also allow you to move forward in the long run and become a profit-making business. Happy marketing!
