The devastating impacts of the COVID-19 have been felt across diverse walks of life. However, businesses have had to take the worst hit with people secluding themselves from stores or opting for a more homebound approach. Social distancing norms are further escalating problems for smaller eateries and businesses that used to rely on associations for generating revenue.
Is this the right time to market?
Every business must continue to market itself while being relevant to the existing scenario. For established SMBs, it’s time to focus on retaining the older customers instead of trying to acquire new ones. Moreover, the market strategy to be followed also depends on the nature of the business.
For instance, pharmacies or industries synonymous with the healthcare sector need not worry about relevance. Then again, restaurants and health clubs have their tasks cut out, especially with individuals refraining from showing up due to the lingering transmission threats.
Therefore, a selective and discretionary approach to marketing is necessary for the post-COVID-19 era.
The Best Marketing Strategies for Small Businesses
For a business to realign itself and grow incrementally, even in the time of crisis, it is necessary to provide some value to the clients or the society in general. It is evident that the times of large scale advertisements have passed, and the inclinations should be on cost-efficiency.
Here are the 4 marketing techniques that can be considered by smaller setups, especially during these unprecedented times:
1. Evaluate Pre-COVID Plans and Make Them Financially Viable
Planning a new strategy doesn’t mean that you need to throw the older ideas down the drain. Instead, you can revisit the drawing board and start by considering a similar pre-COVID-19 marketing pathway but with better budgeting. For instance, instead of putting up city-wide hoardings, you must opt for custom poster printing and more accessible installations.
Custom poster printing can target specific business traits that can be beneficial during the crisis. By allocating the same or lesser budget, businesses can get hold of periodic customized prints, which might be more targeted than ‘spray-and-pray’ marketing.
2. Go Online
While placards and leaflets might still work, the new normal for most small businesses will concern going online with the brand. Be it posting FAQ videos, initiating an email marketing campaign or hosting sessions for addressing client queries, gaining online visibility by being productive is the best marketing approach in recent times.
3. Opt for Direct Mails
With a majority of your clientele stuck at home, direct mails are the best strategies to reconnect with them. This can either be initiated via a holistic and targeted email marketing strategy or by sending over souvenirs, tokens, and acknowledgments to their home addresses.
4. Give Something Back to Society
In the post-COVID era, trust-building is the most effective marketing strategy. Small business owners can, therefore, organize drives or indulge in philanthropic activities to make the clients relate better to their business goals and values.
Everything isn’t lost for small businesses, as they can still get back on their feet by following a highly targeted and socially impactful marketing strategy during the coronavirus-induced crisis.