Why You Should Keep Marketing Your Business During COVID-19
Whether your business is temporarily closed, limited services or you’re busier than ever – you must continue marketing during COVID-19. Your marketing is a long-term strategy and it needs to continue. By marketing your business, even during these uncertain times, you are keeping your business firmly in the minds of your target audience.
Many businesses in Peterborough and across the UK are cutting their marketing budgets. It makes sense, if your income has gone down you want your outgoings to go down too. However, there are two reasons you shouldn’t cut your marketing budget. Firstly, marketing has a long-term impact on your business. By stopping it you are damaging some of the marketing you have done and making it harder to re-start in the future. Many other businesses are cutting their marketing budgets too, which means there is more room for your voice and more people that will see it while your competition is keeping quiet.
More people are spending time online. By marketing our business on social media and uploading new blogs, videos and good quality content to your website, you will give these people online something to look at. Those people with reduced hours or on furlough will be spending hours on the internet. Make sure it is your business they are seeing when they go online.
We always talk about consistency being key to marketing for your business. By stopping and starting your marketing you are not being consistent. Challenge yourself to market your business at least once a day. This could be a post on social media, an article in an online magazine, attending an online networking event, contributing to a business forum or uploading a new blog post for example. Being consistent with your marketing will pay off.
Just a quick check on Google and you’ll see that those businesses investing more in the marketing during the 2008 recession survived. In many cases, these businesses also came out of the recession stronger than ever before.
Instead of thinking the only option is to temporarily close the business, consider ways to adapt your business to the current climate. If you do face to face training, could this be moved to Zoom meetings? If you have a high street presence, why not look at selling your products online? This could really work for you long term too. Don’t give up, just think outside the box.
Don’t forget your existing customers during this time. Stay focused on them and make sure you keep them updated during the lockdown. Use the extra time to check in with your customers and this will help build better relationships with them when you come out the other side. If your customers are having struggles find ways that you can help them.
Now is a great time to revisit your marketing strategy. This will set you up so you can stay a step ahead of the competition. If you’re using our 10 step marketing strategy then it will help you stay 10 steps ahead of the competition!
Use this time to set up the foundations for the business. Look at reviewing previous marketing activities and how they have helped the business or how they can be improved. Conduct a SWOT analysis on your business and define the target audience groups for your business. Take the time to review your brand and conduct a competitor analysis.
When you have looked at all the various marketing activities that fit your business and your target audience – get your marketing plan sorted. Give yourself an action plan with step by step actions you will implement each month.
As always, if you need any help writing your marketing strategy, I would be more than happy to help.
Join our Facebook Group this month where I will be giving you 10 Steps to creating your marketing strategy: https://www.facebook.com/groups/777826872414602/
