Best Marketing Tips for Small Businesses during COVID

The Coronavirus changed upside down the world and the global economy. From having to wear masks and wash our hands all the time to seeing loved ones getting sick, things changed in an unprecedented way.

Entrepreneurs and small business owners are in a state of stress at this time of uncertainty. It seems like they cannot react to this crisis or don’t know how to do it.

During this pandemic, business owners should focus on performing an essential marketing plan to build a strong relationship with their audience. Although it is hard for many businesses to generate revenue, offering value to the customers and having a strong digital presence will significantly impact how a brand will perform in the future.

This post will guide you through some marketing techniques to help you stay ahead of the competition amid COVID.

Show How your Brand can Help

Customers will remember you by the kind of services you provide. Since customers can’t physically visit your store, you need to virtually create that customer experience and deliver value for your audience.

Brands should highlight how their products or services can benefit people during quarantine and make their lives easier.

Keep your focus on providing excellent customer service and value in these stressful times. For example, if you’re a food local business, give away coupons and special offers to medical workers and first responders for meals.

Creating a free online course is another excellent idea for your brand. A course in your niche that solves your customers’ pain points or an education-based material focuses on improving a skill, for example. 

Giving away that content for free will make you a more prominent authority in your niche, and your audience will appreciate it.

As a result, when they are in the mood of purchasing something, you will probably be the first name on their mind.

Trust your Loyal Customer Base

Email can be your best friend during hard times. Leverage the power of your email list by creating a sequence of newsletters for your past customers. Many online email marketing providers have well-crafted templates that are ideal for businesses without experience and expertise in graphic design and email marketing.

Users who have already bought something from you must know that you are open for business. This list may address a loyal customer base and help them overcome fears and struggles during this period of uncertainty.

Don’t miss out on this marketing opportunity. The competition is low due to the pandemic. A few actionable moves can put your business ahead of the game and in front of the right customers. 

Besides email marketing, social media can help you reach your target audience without spending many resources. Keep in mind that advertising is relatively cheap because of the Coronavirus. Take advantage of retargeting ads that can help you grow a loyal audience and build a better relationship with existing customers.

If you have the budget to push your brand out there using promotions, this is the best time. 

Here are some of the benefits of retargeting ads:

• Increase conversions
• Increase brand awareness
• Improve user engagement

This happens because you target users who are already active and have an interest in your brand. Highlighting your values and offering what they need will skyrocket your revenue and create a stronger customer base.

Keep in mind that during quarantine, it is all about creating a solid social media marketing plan and investing time into a lead generation strategy for your social media channels.

Think Again of your Marketing Budget

Public events and other product launches are not an option anymore. Businesses that were planning such actions should reconsider their advertising tactics. 

Digital marketing can give your business a competitive advantage in the pandemic setting while simultaneously reducing the costs of organizing events that will not have a high return on investment.

Brands should focus on improving their foundation and make the appropriate changes to their marketing plan. Investing in online marketing can help them reach a broader audience and build better rapport.

Consumers are spending most of their time at home, which means that most of them will look for products and services they need through search engines and social media.

With that in mind, here are some marketing tips that can boost your brand awareness.

Create a blog section if you haven’t already and start sharing tips, tricks about news in your industry. Invest in an SEO campaign to help you rank higher than your competitors. Optimize the loading time of your website and make sure that it is mobile-friendly.

If you struggle to find a list of tools to improve your SEO, here is a list of the best ones.

Following these strategies will not only be beneficial just during the crisis but even when the pandemic is over. Implementing these essential marketing tactics will help your company reach its target audience and stay ahead of the competition.

Content Marketing via Social Media

Content is the key to every marketing campaign. However, during coronavirus, brands should rethink how they produce content to better suit this time.

Your brand must be a reliable source of information that shares compelling content so that the followers keep coming back to your pages. Whether it’s videos with COVID updates, infographics with safety tips, or other forms of content – continue creating posts that can educate your audience.

Along this challenging journey, make sure to measure your practices’ performance periodically to understand better what’s working. Knowing that you can better produce content that resonates with your target audience and improves the areas you need more work on. 

Use the engagement metrics as your game-changers to pivot towards your most successful campaigns. Stick to them and start building the fundamentals of your next content marketing strategy.

The Takeaway

This pandemic indeed has the potential to turn down a lot of small companies. And it will. But your company doesn’t have to be one of them.

Use this time as an experimentation period for your brand to test out new kinds of content. Take advantage of the cheap promotional options and get your name out there. Optimize your website so that Google is more than happy to rank you higher than your competitors.

Take all these into consideration and trust me; this will be one of the most beneficial experiences for you and your company. Let me know which one of these strategies will you implement first in your next moves? 

Until the next one...

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Creator, Alex is a content writer at Moosend. Find out more on LinkedIn.
Photo by Alesia Kazantceva on Unsplash