Business 101: Survival during a pandemic
Photo by Ivan Bertolazzi from Pexels
Covid-19 has been a disrupter to the global economy. Both small and huge conglomerates have felt the blow, but small businesses have suffered the most. According to the WEF, small businesses are the backbone of any economy and are responsible for employing over half of the private sector workforce.
However, the volatility of time where social distancing and other health protocols need to be followed has seen many businesses collapse. Many reports can give you the feel of doom and gloom.
Fortunately, there are effective ways your business can survive and thrive through a pandemic.
Utilize social media platforms
According to research, about 54% of the world’s population uses social media, with an average usage of 2hrs and 25 minutes per day. With such high usage, social media has become a bridge between customers and businesses. By using social media, you bring free value to potential clients and build solid relationships.
There is no shortage of sites on which you can promote your business. When determining the right channel, you need to consider your business needs and customers. Conduct some research to know the suitable platform for your products and services.
For instance, YouTube is suitable for video production, while Instagram is ideal for images.
Create a calendar to help you create strategies and goals for tracking your progress. Staying organised helps you plan your posts in advance, create links, hashtags, and images.
Ensure you post content that the audience can resonate with. Repost, ask questions and even comment on other people’s posts. Knowing what your clients need helps you figure out the appropriate content and what they might like.
One mistake that people make is over-promoting the business. Regular advertising is okay but overdoing it might seem like baggage to your audience. Use the one-in-seven rule where one post is for business promotion while six others are content-based.
Reevaluate business spending
This is the appropriate time to reevaluate your business expenditure. Minimising costs will help you pursue your business goals during harsh economic times. Save money on supplies by looking outside the pool of traditional vendors.
Buy products from vendors who offer discounts. As a business owner, focus on cutting production costs and optimising your resources. For instance, you can sell leftover cardboard, metal, and paper instead of sending them to the recycling centre.
Look at your financial accounts and insurance policies for places to save money. Check the policies to ensure you’re not over-insured. Avoid unnecessary debt as it may affect your company’s interest rates, rating, and ability to get funds in the future.
Optimising productivity lowers the cost of doing your business and boosts revenue. You can use apps such as Rescue Time or Focus Booster to help employees concentrate and focus on their tasks. Toggle and Paymo are great software to track workers’ time usages.
Another strategy is to narrow your focus. Limit the types of products or services you offer or projects you can accept. Running a small business can be tempting to be a jerk of all trades. But choosing a forte will make you more productive and offer high-quality services.
Leverage email marketing
Some business owners tend to think that email marketing is dead. It’s even a primary concern with most marketers. Surprisingly, 73% of millennials are comfortable with businesses communicating via email. More so, 99% of consumers tend to check their emails daily.
Therefore, email marketing can be an effective strategy to market your brand. With emails, you can create personalised content and targeted content. You can use letterbox distribution to send pamphlets or flyers to inform your audience about your products and services.
Email marketing also helps you keep a pulse of customer experience. You can send surveys and obtain satisfactory feedback through email campaigns. Besides being an excellent marketing tool, email marketing can boost your sales.
For every $1 spent, the email will generate $38 of revenue. This is an incredible 3,800% return on investment. Your email marketing can incorporate messages to motivate the audience to buy from you.
Protect your cash flow
In times of crisis, you need to take action as quickly as possible. Remember, wasted time is a wasted dollar. Waiting to see what happens can cost you valuable time and the success of your business.
A crucial indicator that your business can thrive in 2021 is your cash flow. When sales flow and cash flow is consistent, growth becomes inevitable. Your ability to create and protect cash flow during an economic downturn will define the success of your business.
First, you need to understand the full cash flow cycle. Ensure you set payment terms for the convenience of your business. Generally, for a small business, set payment to be around 45 to 60 days.
Keep track of your leads, average sales, days of cash in hand, conversions, accounts receivables, and accounts payables. These will give you data points to manage the business as well as making decisions. When specific metrics perform poorly, such as sales and conversions, other metrics like accounts payables and receivables become extremely important.
Get help from the government
The British Business Bank’s Finance hub offers finance options for small struggling businesses. You may reach out to legislators to find the resources available. Make a point of joining a local task force focusing on small businesses.
Getting involved will make it easy to advocate for your local community and your business. There are various programs to support UK tech businesses and offer relief to investors.
Make an effort to win competitors’ customers
Expanding your customer base is the best way to thrive through tough times. It means you must draw clients from your competition. Research your competition and offer something different or more than what a competitor offers.
What entices your competitors’ clients? How are they advertising? You may ask clients what they like and some changes they’d like.
After questioning the consumers, then you can tweak your business practices accordingly.
The bottom line
When it comes to upgrading your business, you may feel unsure about the right direction. Having a website and an essential online presence is a good start. However, you have to consider the above facets for the success of your business during a pandemic.
