It’s the wild west out there.  Semi-closed to the public, small businesspeople everywhere find themselves in a new frontier.  Today, we're marketing in COVID territory.  Saddled up in their horse and wagon, otherwise known as the internet and delivery, options seem slim and consistent revenue streams a distant mirage.

The challenges are there, but so are the opportunities.

Here are some ways for marketing trail blazers to land the loyalty of current customers and stake claim on new ones in COVID territory.

Care
Contact customers and show you care.  Ask how they are coping and how your business might help. Use phone calls, hand-written notes, chats, and emails.  You’ll learn about their worries, needs, and support each other in the process.  Create a weekly live social media check-in to show the inside of your business, new items and ideas.

Outreach
Access your community’s resources to find ways to connect your product or service with those in need. Think about how your offerings could be modified to meet a whole new audience you might not have envisioned previously. Create content that presents the benefits of your company on a personal level.  Consider reaching out to your local television stations and share your story.

Visualize
Look ahead and visualize what your customers’ needs will be in our new normal.  As your community phases in businesses, where will yours fit?  How can you merge and maximize your current COVID tactics of internet sales and delivery with limited in-person service?

Identify
Adapt your current operations and identify ways to expand future revenue streams.  Take the “slow-down” and turn it into an efficiency injection. Deluxe Small Business Revolution offers 10 ways to maximize downtime.  They advise to refresh your website, seek different ways to share your message, and look for partnerships to leverage resources.

Dare
Reimagine your business.  Use the time to plan and develop a new product or service.  Consider rebranding and developing new messaging for the new world ahead.  Check out Wordstream' s advice on how consumer behavior has and will change and ways to adapt your online marketing and advertising strategies.

By showing you care and thinking ahead, your business will be ready to claim success when we make this virus wave the white flag of surrender. Do it right when marketing in COVID territory!

You thought you turned heads on your last advertising campaign because it was on point. People were clicking your ads like crazy and your website had a spike in visits. But, the activity didn’t turn heads adequately to become a trend. You had a lot of the right pieces, but lacked the coordination to make a real fashion statement. Review the following Do’s and Don’ts so you can turn heads with coordinated marketing and make all the right choices in the future.

Don’t fall flat on the runway.

A discerning, highly influential client – let’s call her a fashionista - deigns to click on your ad. Instead of seeing a lovely coordinated landing page she spots a cluttered website. Like last season’s stilettos, she kicks your product to the curb.

Do accessorize.

The same client clicks on your stylish ad, arrives on a coordinated, trackable landing page and notices a valuable offer. She whips out her swanky wallet and hands over contact information to collect your must-have discount.

Don’t be a one-hit wonder.

Before you can say fabulous, you move on to your next task. Just as you look away another shiny object catches said fashionista’s attention and she never redeems the discount. It’s almost like you left her in the back of the closet with last year’s handbag.

Do shower attention.

A millisecond after receiving her valuable contact information, your prompt auto-reply email lands in the maven’s inbox wrapped in a bow nudging her to use the discount before the product sells out.

Soon she begins to see your retargeting ads with more of photos of your product on other exclusive websites.

A week later – because you have set up an automated email workflow based on her interests and behavior - she receives an exclusive email offer for first-time customers who subscribe to your newsletter.

Not long after that, your next thoughtful and targeted email elegantly appears showing the latest piece in the collection along with a special offer for customers who like your Instagram page.

Do expect to make a statement.

Follow the do’s and avoid the don’ts above you will make an impression that turn will heads with coordinated marketing and transform that fashionista into a brand-devotee ready to influence her stylish circle of friends and their matching disposable incomes.

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