All businesses are taking a big hit right now and we’re all struggling to figure out what to do next. You may think that the first thing you need to cut back on is your online presence, but this is so not the case. When customers can’t reach out to you IRL (in real life), you need to be reachable virtually. Now more than ever, you need to boost your online presence. Here are some digital marketing tips for small business in a pandemic.
Check all your online channels
Is your website running smoothly? Are there broken links? Is it mobile-friendly? Does it load quickly? Is it secure (does it use https instead of just http)? Are you social media channels up and running? Make sure that you have a statement on your online channels about what your business is doing through this whole Covid-19 crisis. How are you affected? What are you going to do from now? How are your customers going to reach you? Make it front and centre and publish it on all your channels.
Post more
In the past, you may have been able to get away with posting once or twice a week. But now that customers can’t reach you IRL, you need to boost your social media postings. Three times a week is a good start but seriously think about posting more. Start to experiment in more than just text and photo posts. Try video for your digital marketing ads. Use the Live function on Facebook and Instagram. Do you have a tutorial you want to do? Go for it! The free editing apps are a dime a dozen now so you can edit your own videos. Think about what you want to convey to your customers and then create the content.
Offer packages
Your customers want to help you if they are able to. People are loyal to the businesses they love, so reach out to them. Be honest about how this pandemic is affecting your business and you personally. Make it easy for them to help you. Maybe create a ‘help my business’ package that your customers can easily purchase on your website. Make sure that the links are also there on your social media channels. Promise them a freebie once everything is up and running again as a ‘thank you’ for their continued support.
Now is the time to focus your efforts online because there’s very little you can do IRL. If you need a free consult on where or how to start, contact us.
Kristyn is the Creative Director of 3C Digital. She is a freelance writer/journalist with over 13 years of experience in the industry both locally and internationally. She has previous experience as TV and radio broadcast journalist as well as print and online writer. Her novels, The Girl Between Two Worlds and The Girl Between Light and Dark, are out now.
