The World Health Organisation (WHO) recently declared the Coronavirus as a Pandemic. With this announcement, many nation-state governments have advised their respective publics to limit social gatherings and maintain a strict regime of personal hygiene, among other things.
Here’s Donald Trump peddling a term that has gathered traction in the midst of the coronavirus outbreak.
SOCIAL DISTANCING!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 14, 2020
If Governments are taking such an active part to curb this tragic situation, it’s quite possible that business owners may be afflicted with a similar strain of anxiety.
What Business Owners should know about the Coronavirus (COVID19)
We know that any pandemic has the capacity to embroil an economic recession.
Although other significant elements were involved, one of the factors that led to the depression of the 1920s was the Dust Bowl Disaster. The coronavirus or COVID19 can lead us into a similar turmoil.
However, business owners should keep in mind that any sudden or misinformed changes only serve to exacerbate the financial atmosphere. It’s always better to see how a pandemic develops and devise adaptation strategies accordingly.
Source: Pinterest
How has the Coronovirus Impacted Businesses?
With pandemics like the COVID19, it’s always local businesses that are hit the hardest.
We already know that in several countries, the consumer market is in total lockdown. Italy has imposed a strict curfew and the residents have also taken it upon themselves to self-isolate. Spain is using drones to monitor streets, and request the wandering public to resign to their homes. Shops, factories, even Internet cafes are collecting dust. Major supply chains are disrupted, which has made basic amenities inaccessible to the public. The black market, which after seeing the rising demand for essentials, like toilet paper and face masks, has resorted to hoarding, which has further made things economically delirious.
Unfortunately, things aren’t looking to get any better – not in the immediate future at least. WHO speculates economic losses in the trillions and Washington has already reported a staggering 12 billion dollars worth of economic downturn.
So, in these troubling times, how can business owners successfully run their businesses?
Running Your Business Successfully In A Pandemic like the Coronavirus
You’re already in the thick of the calamity, so what now? You can no longer take mitigation measures. That time has passed. What you can do is adapt yourself to the unpredictable tides of the pandemic and take steps to limit your losses.
Here’s how…
Trimming and Redirecting your Budget
You never know how long a pandemic can linger on. It’s important to limit your annual budget as much as you can. Reduce surplus overhead charges. Study active marketing campaigns and cut the cord on the ones that aren’t paying dividends.
However, don’t take these steps mindlessly.
First carefully review the digital marketing strategy of your business. What its desired ambitions are. For instance, a business that doesn’t thrive on social media advertising will take a different rite of passage than one who does. However, limiting your social media advertising budget makes sense in both cases, because in a pandemic, it’s not like the customers are going to knock on your doors like crazy. They already have bigger fish to fry in their self-imposed house sentences.
What you can do is restrict your budget to online strategies that don’t bank on on-site customer conversion. Falling back on basic Ecommerce SEO Strategies to increase your organic reach, on your websites and WordPress blogs, is an excellent place to start. This can also prove beneficial in expending more of your resources to hit market share that you couldn’t target with this kind of financial redirection or liberty before.
Realizing the Severity of the Situation
Many businesses make the mistake of making wildly pragmatic and optimistic forecasts. Stop that.
Your duty is not to find the silver lining in a pandemic, but to prepare for the worse. Be realistic, and see the situation for what it is. Even if your pessimistic projections prove untrue, they can help you prepare for a bigger beast in the future.
Finding Creative Solutions to Manage Workload
Nike recently announced that it’s going to give paid leave to all its workers. Well, if you’re not Nike, you can’t afford to take such a step. It’s going to bankrupt you.
What you can do is stir your creative juices to effectively manage how your employees operate. For starters, you can find ways to help them to set up their workspaces remotely. In this age of digital marketing, that’s more than doable. You can also turn to freelancers and independent contractors on cost-effective platforms like Upwork and fiver for the time being. The quality of their work may not be as consistent, but it’s still better than any other option.
Integrating Pivot Strategies
In Quarantine, some businesses will take the lead on others. Youtube, Netflix, and other platforms are likely to register a record increase in subscriptions. Deviate your attention to these platforms, and find room in your marketing strategies to accommodate them. Make a new Youtube channel or furnish new and exciting content for an existing one. Social Media Articles, Blog pieces. Infographics. Captions on Catchy images.
These things will prove pivotal in enforcing your presence on these platforms. One social media platform that is relatively new and remains untapped by local businesses is TikTok. It’s a great resource for advertising your business. You can stream live on TikTok and keep your consumer base up-to-date with the latest business developments. You can tinker with TikTok’s in-built video editor, adding Text, slow-mo or slow-motion effect, and a slew of other fun effects that are haven’t debuted in other platforms. The possibilities are endless.
