Using this Time to Pivot your Business

Easy Ways to Create a Coronavirus Crisis Management Plan

As small business owners, we’re prepared for a lot of things: slow seasons, employees calling in sick, unexpected expenses and repairs.

But we’ve never seen anything like the COVID-19 pandemic, leaving us uncertain about how to cope in these strange times.

I know its scary and you might feel alone at times in your professional and personal life but we are going to get though this together.I created this article to help you pivot your business during this coronavirus.

I’ve personally pivoted my business many times as an entrepreneur, and while it can be stressful, it can also be a time of innovation and growth.

As you’re creating your coronavirus crisis management plan for business, here are a few things to focus on:

Helping Over Selling

I get that you have a company to run, and No I am not asking you to give away things for free or risk your health to reopen your shop. I recommend you take a step back and think about your community while you’re running your company.

Maybe there is a way that what you offer could help people in this difficult time. A local restaurant shut down its doors but decided to serve their community in two ways with one simple switch. They wanted to support their food supplier so they kept ordering fresh produce and passed the saving along to their community. Offering fresh produce boxes for $10 and eggs and bread for $5.

Is there a way you can adapt your current offering to better serve your customers and community?

Online Events & Offerings

Obviously, hosting large events off-limits for quite some time. A huge part of your planning for business challenges related to COVID-19 is going to include an online marketing strategy.

Think of some ways you can still connect people from the comfort of home, including webinars, Facebook Live videos and virtual conferences using tools like Zoom. And don’t just focus on coronavirus-related content. Keep producing video that will benefit your small business marketing strategy long after the COVID-19 crisis is over.

Here’s a good example of a pivot to online marketing. My local meditation group, Meditation + Tea has serviced the Detroit area for almost a year and a half. We been wanting to move our offerings online but didn't know how to do it without loosing the community we built. This was that opportunity, they needed us now more than ever and we were able to easily transition online. And guess what, we went from 2 events a month to 4 and our community was grateful.

Business Planning for Future Growth

Of course you have to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic with the right messaging, but don’t get tunnel vision when it comes to your marketing strategy and ad dollars.

While consumers are spending more time online, they’re not keen to make decisions about the future right now. Example, they are not planning any trips or investing in homes or cars when the economy is at a low and there is so much uncertainty on when it is safe to move about.

But all is not lost! This can be an opportunity to engage with your customers on social media and increase your brand awareness with content and even paid advertising. With paid ads, you may even find that you have less online competition during an economic downturn, meaning you’ll pay less for more eyeballs and clicks.

From promoting low cost offers on your website to creating useful articles on reducing stress during COVID-19, give your customers a reason to stick with you—even if the pandemic is bringing you more business.

For example, Pelaton saw an uptake in users when they offered their services free for two months. As many people can not access the gym this is the perfect time to get them on the platform and get them hooked on their classes and free meditations.

Empowering Your Employees

If you haven’t had to make hard decisions about laying off staff, how can you keep your team busy and optimistic about the future?

Here are a few ideas:

• Offer training opportunities to help your team and your company in the long-term—whether that’s getting a new certification or reading relevant industry books.

• Consider making vacation policies or work hours more flexible to accommodate employees whose kids may be out of school.

• Involve your team in “back burner” projects or things you’ve put off because you were too busy before.

If your team is working remotely, make sure to check in with them often. A virtual daily coffee or 15-minute meeting to see how everyone is doing can be vital to your team’s mental health and well-being.

No matter what type of company you have, your customers are looking for help and assurance right now. As you’re developing your coronavirus crisis management plan, keep in mind that everyone is being bombarded with messaging noise.

That means emails from every company they ever followed on social media, bought a product from or signed up to get an eNewsletter from! As you pivot your small business marketing strategy to survive the COVID-19 crisis, make sure all of your communications provide meaningful and relevant information.

The more value you can offer your customers right now, the more successful you’ll be as we shift to a new way of marketing and emerge from a global crisis that made our world a lot smaller.

Are you planning to pivot and if so in which way?

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