It has been almost a year since our lives were flipped upside down. March 2020 our lives totally changed. Most businesses suffered a massive blow in a way we never knew was possible. Business came to a halt = revenue stopped coming in. Everyone was locked inside. It's unfortunate that over 60% of businesses shut down for good. Firms such as restaurants, bars, and nightlife venues were hit the hardest by the restrictions brought by the pandemic.
2020 our guts were spilling on the floor and we had no idea how to recover from that. Businesses were hemorrhaging badly and had to look out for government funding to stay afloat. In 2021 we are still stuck amidst all the chaos but, only now, are we now accepting this as the new norm. We heard this over and over again in 2020 "new norm" but 2021 has proved to us that to survive in this pandemic you need to be cut from a different cloth entirely.
I carried out in-depth research where I spoke to small business owners in Malaysia, the USA, South Africa, Nigeria, and Zimbabwe and the question they all had was, "what now?"It was an eye-opener. I went out to find out ways I could help my friends and family to find a long-term strategy that can mitigate this hurdle.
Here are 5 ways to survive the pandemic as a small business, well let's just get this out of the way. This is not a cure for the mental state that Covid has left us in. We need to accept that this pandemic disrupted not only our economic state but our mental health as well. and we need to address that. For some of us, we might have lost our loved ones, had our loved ones or ourselves hospitalized, or affected by Covid. It has not been easy and we all need to take a breath and give each other time to heal.
So here are the five ways;
Pivoting
Event companies, bars, restaurant companies need to pivot to cushion the blow of the pandemic. Pivoting is fundamentally changing the direction of a business when you realize the current products or services aren't meeting the needs of the market. We have some airline companies that have switched from transporting passengers to cargo-flight only. Restaurants, since there are a few to no customers coming in due to the pandemic restrictions restaurants, are offering ready-to-eat meals to take-away and cook at home. Grocery stores have turned to bring the groceries to the consumers through delivery or pick up. Some hotels are also offering their rooms to remote workers and there are other great examples of companies that have pivoted in 2021.
Generate new sources of income
The adverse effects of this pandemic have totally broken the economic circuit of many firms. This has opened entrepreneurs to always come up with new sources of income. So we should not only focus on one source of income but have other means of getting money.
Learning new skills
If there is one thing that this crisis has taught us is the need to adapt.
“You must be shapeless, formless, like water. When you pour water in a cup, it becomes the cup. When you pour water in a bottle, it becomes the bottle. When you pour water in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Water can drip and it can crash. Become like water my friend.”
― Bruce Lee
For a thriving market, small business owners need to unlearn, learn and relearn new technologies and methods to increase productivity.
Digital marketing
Digital marketing techniques have found to have 70% mitigated the negative effects of the covid crisis. Businesses that upped their online presence are able to buffer the economic shock to their businesses. Digital marketing is crucial in this modern age as it encompasses a wide range of roles from social media marketing, content marketing, marketing automation, pay-per-click, SEO, native advertising, affiliate marketing, email marketing, inbound marketing, and sponsored content.
Digital marketing makes you reach out to a larger audience than the traditional means can. With the use of this marketing strategy, you are able to focus on your target market and find ways to get your product in their hands.
Content marketing strategy
The fifth and last way is the use of a content marketing strategy. You can not just post what you want and expect to get the desired results. You need to focus on your buyer personas and create content for them not what you want. This is a challenge that I also suffer from. Set your smart goals and create a strategy that will generate more sales for your business. If you're clueless about executing this content strategy feel free to send me a message. I will be glad to help out.
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What do you think about these 5 ways of surviving the pandemic? Share what you think in the comments down below. You can also share other ways you have been using to keep afloat.
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