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As the UK goes into shutdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, it has become harder and harder for businesses to survive, never mind thrive. Especially for small businesses.
As the person in charge of marketing at your company, your marketing plans are having to change – rapidly. New ways of marketing are having to be adopted and quickly, to try and make sure you still receive the leads and sales you need.
To help with this we have produced a list of 22 marketing ideas that can help you and your company survive the current crisis. Not everything will be right for you, but there will be something you wouldn’t have thought of that can make a real difference.
Have a read through the different ideas below and most importantly start implementing. If business is shrinking then the sooner you start adapting and changing the better.
- Sell vouchers
- Create a VIP list
- Build an online shop
- Collect reviews
- Create an Email newsletter
- Use Social Media
- Run a competition
- Ask for feedback
- Host an online event
- Learn a skill
- Thank your customers
- Write helpful articles
- Offer consultations
- Take telephone orders
- Target more expensive competition
- Try Google Ads
- Concentrate on Conversion
- Tell stories
- Share content
- Pay it forward
- Ask for recommendations
- Switch to monthly payments
1. Sell vouchers
Everyone is waiting for this virus to pass. People still want your products or services it’s just that they can’t access them, so why not sell vouchers to your customers so you can collect income now instead of waiting for the future?
Your customers love your business and will want to make sure you come out of this at the other end, so they don’t want to see you close permanently. Offering them vouchers to use when normality returns will help you and they will feel that they are supporting you too.
You could even incentivise the vouchers by selling a £60 voucher at £50 or a £100 voucher for £90. Think about what works for you and your business.
2. Create a VIP list
When this all finishes there is going to be a rush of people for your services or products, especially if it is something that they can’t get whilst the country is in lockdown. Heck, I’m writing this with long hair, having not managed to get to the barbers before lockdown.
Create a VIP list for your special customers who will receive the first opportunity when you reopen to book or purchase your goods. This will make them feel valued and appreciated and again they could reserve their place on this list by paying a small deposit which will be taken off their first order or appointment.
3. Build an online shop
Can you build an online shop? There are plenty of options out there, such as Shopify, that allow you to build an eCommerce shop online to sell your goods or products.
These online stores are great for making a start. They are easy to build and very cost-effective, even if they don’t allow you to fully customise the look and feel.
You may not be able to sell your main products, but do you sell any additional products or services that you could put in a shop?
We have a client who is an Optician who has done this. They have created a mini shop selling contact lenses fluid and eye drops etc. You could also add your vouchers to the shop as well, and sell them online.
It’s fairly easy to do. In a day you could have something running and it makes it easy for your customers to support you. They may not need any more of what you are offering, but based on the current climate, they may just buy more than they need to help you out.
4. Collect reviews
Now is a great time to collect reviews from your customers. Again they will be looking for ways to support you and this is easy and doesn’t cost a penny.
Send emails to them asking for a review on Google, Facebook or an independent website like TrustPilot. Put links to the review sites in the email you send them to make it easy, and I would put all 3 in as well. To leave a review on Google your customer needs a Google account. If they do not have a Google account they made just give up. Therefore it will be easier for them to leave a review on Facebook. If they don’t use Facebook it will be easier to leave a review on say Trustpilot.
Creating links for reviews on Facebook and Trustpilot is easy. On Google is a little harder.
To find the link to share for a Google review.
- Go too google.co.uk
- Search for your company
- On your location card on the right, click on “Get more reviews”
- Click to copy the link in the box.
In fact, this is ours https://g.page/xposurecreative/review?kd If you would like to leave a review if you find this article helpful.
5. Create an Email newsletter
If your business is closed for the shutdown, then now more than ever it is important to keep in touch with your customers. If you have competitors who are open or operate online stores that sell what you sell you need to protect your clients and make sure they don’t start shopping elsewhere.
They will want to support you so let them know what you are up to. What you are doing to make things better when you come out the other side and give them a reason to continue to support you.
By sending emails and keeping in touch they are more likely to remain loyal and remember you. Remember out of sight out of mind. Don’t let that happen to your business.
Again there are tools out there that can allow you to email customers quickly and easily. Mailchimp is the most well know and will allow you to send up to 2,000 emails a month for free.
6. Use Social Media
Ramp up your social media. Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Linkedin. Set somewhere between 10 – 30 minutes a day to use social media to connect with your clients, search for potential new clients and join in with what is happening in your ideal clients’ lives.
There are some further ideas in this list on what you can do and share on social media, plus we have a separate article on how to use social media at this time to help your business.
7. Run a competition
To connect with your customers and allow them to remember you run a competition or a quiz.
This can be on email, on your website, on Facebook, Twitter etc. You can make it easy with just a simple question and answer or you can make it last over several weeks. A question a week for 4 weeks and then submit all your answers.
You can work with other businesses in your community who are in the same predicament as you. Give away a selection of prizes and you can then gain customers from each other. Just don’t choose a competitor to run the competition with.
We have another client who for Mothers Day ran a competition on Facebook with a florist to win a bunch of mothers day flowers. They are Mansfield Garage Doors and have managed to get in front of new people from the florist’s customer list and the florist has picked up new customers from the garage door companies list.
8. Ask for feedback
If you are at home and your business is shut because it’s in retail then now is a perfect time to improve your offering.
Whether it’s looking at your website, products or services. Contact your customers and ask them what they love about your business, products and services and also what they don’t. Use this feedback in this downtime to improve your business and come back better and stronger.
Look at your current marketing. Analyse what is working and what is not working so well. Are you spending wisely? What trends do you expect after the shutdown?
Look at your website and competitor websites. What could be improved? Ask your customers what you could add, remove, or change on your website to help them. Ask your web design company to add you as an admin to Google Analytics, Google My Business and Google Search Console. There is a wealth of data about your website here which will give you great insight into your website and what is working or not.
9. Host an online event
Can you connect with customers and host an online event? Can you give them help, hints and tips in your specialist field? You may not be able to deliver massages, hair cuts or beauty treatments say, but can you give hints and tips at an online event which could help your customers in the meantime? Help with things they can do at home.
We have another customer who delivers training in the classroom, who is moving to online. They are setting up to deliver their classes using video conference tools, eCommerce and marketing automation.
There are plenty of tools you can use to deliver an online event such as Facebook Live and Youtube. Here’s a helpful guide from Google about how to host a virtual event.
10. Learn a skill
Learn a new skill in this downtime that will help your business. There are plenty of online courses out there, some paid for and some free, that you can choose from to improve your business.
Udemy has a huge range of courses that you can subscribe to and take.
Thinking about our own area of expertise, you can learn basic SEO or online marketing. This can improve your website rankings and also give you a better return from any online marketing you are doing. Also when you are talking to your web design company or the people who do digital marketing for you, you will have a better understanding and will be able to ask better questions.
11. Thank your customers
Through this Coronavirus, don’t forget to thank your customers. If you have time on your hands, then you can think of creative ways to thank them. Make them feel special and therefore strengthen the bond between them and your business.
Depending on their annual spend, you may want to just send a personal email to say thank you or to go as far as sending cakes or more. Many cafes and grocery stores are now doing deliveries to local people. If your customers are local, support another local business and order from them. If your customers are in other parts of the country, find a local business close to them that has had to change in these difficult times and order from them.
12. Write helpful articles
If your customers can’t come to you and see you, then write helpful articles on your website and share them on email and social media.
You are an expert in your field. Share your knowledge, and position yourself as a local expert in your industry. Make sure your customers know how good you are at your job, so they can tell their friends and family.
Write helpful articles, hints and tips. Think about the questions you get asked most by your customers and write about them.
- Write about what is happening in your industry, what is the next big thing.
- What problems do customers have, and write on how you/they can solve them.
- Write about comparisons, this product versus this product.
These are just 3 ideas to get you going, but there is so, so much you can write about. Use Google to find out what questions people ask and what others have written about. Below is a quick diagram of ideas on what you can write about.
13. Offer consultations
Maybe you cannot visit people but can you offer 1 to 1 consultation or family group consultations? There are plenty of video solutions out there like FaceTime, Zoom, and Skype.
Can you charge for them? you may not be able to do your job fully, but you may be able to do a cut-down version which can still generate some income and strengthen the bond with your customer.
We have a client who is using this approach. They can do their job using video consultations, but they can add value to their customer by being there, talking to them 1 to 1 and offering reassurance.
14. Take telephone orders
You may not have an eCommerce website, but can you still take telephone orders? If you are not in your premises of work, can you get the telephone number diverted to your mobile and take calls on there instead?
If you can take telephone orders and you have access to your stock, you can still post it out and get it delivered to your customers.
15. Target more expensive competition
As businesses go into lockdown and the economy slows, other businesses will be looking at ways of saving money. Do you have more expensive competitors? If so can you target their customers?
As their customers batten down the hatches they may be in the market to look for a cheaper alternative. Could that be you?
Think about who your customers are, and what you do for them and think about who your more expensive customers are. Look on their website, find customers or case studies and see the type of customers they work for. Then use your current customers, Linkedin contacts and social media to try and connect with them and tell them about your offer.
16. Try Google Ads
Do you sell a bespoke item? If so Google Ads may work for you if you do not already use Google Ads.
With Google Ads, you can target specific searches. If what you sell is quite unique you may be able to pick up business from further afield as people search for alternative suppliers of your product online.
Maybe their supplier has shut down and can not supply them? If so they will be looking on Google for alternatives.
Google what you sell and see if any ads appear for it, if not or if there are few ads, this could work for you.
We can help you with this if you want to know more. Give us a call 01636 858113
17. Concentrate on Conversion
As leads dry up it is even more important that you convert the leads that you do have.
Look at your lead conversion process, what do you do between that first enquiry and the sale? What works? What could you do better? If you have fewer leads and sales at the moment you have time to really focus on this process and look at the bottlenecks and improvements.
Ask your staff and ask customers what the problems are and what can be improved. Any changes you do can only improve your conversion rate. Remember it’s the small changes that make a big difference.
18. Tell stories
When communicating with your customers make sure you tell stories. Earlier we mentioned that is more important than ever to keep in contact with your customers, and stories are what people read.
Don’t just put sales information in your email newsletter or online event. Let them know what you and your business have been up to. Have you been helping out in your local community? Have you donated anything to help? Even just putting a rainbow in the window.
Just let them know how you are coping, what things you and your family have been doing at home and again share any resources you have found helpful.
19. Share content
As stated above share anything you have found helpful, whether it’s business-related (like this article ?) or just help for family or home life whilst staying at home.
Also, don’t forget to share your own content. It may be an article you wrote several years ago but is now relevant again. It may be a video you have produced that can help.
20. Pay it forward
Can your business help other businesses or your local community? Do you have something which other people would find useful? If so share it, give it away, do it for free.
Joe Wicks has been doing PE lessons on YouTube for children and started as soon as the schools shut. His views on a video used to range from 200,000 – 300,000, now he is getting people to watch from across the globe and is hitting 5,000,000 views.
Look on Facebook for local community groups. See how you can help. Look for local business groups. Is there anything there you can help with? Can you join forces with another local business to do good for the community?
Anything you do like this, you can then share on social media in your newsletter and build trust in your business and brand. People will remember your kindness and repay it back when they can 10-fold.
21. Ask for recommendations
Your customers are a loyal bunch, they want to help at this time so don’t be afraid to ask for help. If they have enjoyed your products or services they are probably more than happy to recommend you to family and friends.
Make it easy for them to do so. Maybe even offer an incentive of a free product treatment or money off or money back. Whatever it is don’t be afraid to ask your clients, but make sure you offer value.
22. Switch to monthly payments
You may have noticed a trend over the past few years of paying for a service monthly. We can now have meals delivered monthly from Noom [https://www.noom.com/] We can have razors delivered monthly and even pants!
Can you create a monthly subscription package for your service? You may not be able to convert what you do exactly into a monthly subscription package, but is there a cut-down version, a slight tweak, or something that includes extra products or extra benefits?
Have a think and you may just come up with the next big thing.
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If you have enjoyed this article or have found any of the tips helpful then please share. There are plenty of UK-based businesses out there who are struggling and the ideas within this article may just be the spark they need.
Let’s all continue to work together and let us know if you think there is anything we may be able to help you with.
And remember, stay safe and stay home.
