Covid-19 has halted most business activities, wreaking havoc on the global economy. Without discriminating, it has affected both small and large businesses. Still, small businesses have been hit the hardest, with many closing their doors for good. If your business is also affected by this pandemic, these digital marketing tips for small businesses to survive Covid-19 will help you keep your customers engaged and your sales up.
1. Evaluate and Adjust Your Digital Marketing Approach
Covid-19 has made both large and small businesses to start rethinking their digital roadmap. Even the best companies had to change their approach, and so you must do the same. Modify your digital marketing strategies as per the demands of customers during the corona crisis. This can attract and engage consumers and strengthen your relationship with your clients.
If you are a gym owner and don’t know what to do, try bringing workouts to your audiences using IGTV. If your restaurant does not have a customer dine-in facility, put together a quick 30-second clip sharing a healthy recipe that your audience can try at home. Furniture store owners can make videos to inform their audience about ideal home office furniture. If you were offering educational courses before, consider selling your audience the same courses online. These digital marketing tips for small businesses can do wonder for your business. You can engage your audience these tips.
You can also create a Google or Facebook Ad Campaign to inform your customers that you are open and running with safety precautions in place. This will put you in front of new and returning visitors. If demand is increasing for your services, consider changing your primary Call to Action from a “Get in touch” or “Free trial” message to “Call us now” to drive the urgency.
2. Be Active on Social Media
Your audience is now more active on social media. With people going out less, they engage with social content and ads a lot more than before. This is a unique and once-in-a-lifetime learning opportunity for you to deeply understand your audience’s preferences and demands and engage more with them.
If you were posting regularly on your social channels, then it’s well and good. But if you were neglecting your social media profiles, then now is the right time to re-establish your presence on them. This will help you in creating refined social media campaigns that generate higher conversion rates.
You can provide the latest updates about COVID-19. If you own a restaurant, you can tell your audience if your business is open to taking orders, its opening hours, and availability of home delivery options. Just keep creating content that can educate your customers and provide them information about your business.
You can try the following ideas to engage with your audience:
Use IGTV, Facebook Live, and YouTube to your Advantage–
You can share workouts, cooking, dancing, and DIY videos with your customers, to keep them in the loop and involved.
Engage Customers with Q&A’s–
It is always fun to do Q&A sessions. You can start a live Q&A, or you can ask questions in your stories on Instagram or Facebook.
Repurpose Old Content-
You can share old content in the form of throwback videos and photos. This way, you can effectively use your old content to engage with your audience.
Share Positive Messages-
We need to support each other in these challenging times. Create a positive infographic or make a video sharing some tips on how to stay positive and motivated to do what you love.
Keep Up with Latest Keyword Trends
Changing market trends and economic conditions have influenced search terms. As per Google, search interest for the word “coronavirus” spiked by 260% on a global scale. Search for terms like ‘grocery delivery,’ ‘stores open near me,’ and ‘opening hours’ have also increased in volume. So, we advise that you research and survey keywords from specific search terms. It will give you a good insight into what your customers need from you right now.
Organic searches for keywords such as “at home,” “delivery,” “delivery services,” and “shipping” have increased. Business owners who provide home delivery on their products or services can use these keywords to their advantage. Keep in mind to update your negative keywords lists to avoid unwanted traffic.
Engage with Your Loyal Customers
This is a great time to engage with your loyal customers as they have lots of time to kill. During these difficult times, they must be having different questions and requests. Providing answers to all the problems will give you an edge over your competition. Only those businesses that will adapt to current situations and personalize their audience’s experience will survive in the long run.
Inform your audience that you have opened your business after lockdown by sending them emails or posting on your social channels. If there are any problems in delivering a parcel on time, let your customers know immediately about the delay, so they know what to expect. Give your clients a reason to connect with your brand on a deeper level. You can even provide a free sample or a discount code on their next order. This is a great way to engage with your customers, and it strengthens their faith in your brand and secures their loyalty.
Relocate Your Marketing Budget
Planning product launches, PR events, in-person gatherings, etc. is no longer an option as social gathering is restricted. The governments worldwide are urging people to step outside only when necessary, meaning that most of them will turn to search engines and social media to look for the products and services they need. This is where digital marketing comes into the picture. Making use of digital marketing services can give your business an edge over your competitors. If you have assigned budget to traditional marketing, redirect it towards digital marketing to increase your online presence.
You can use your marketing budget for:
- Adding videos to your site
- Starting a podcast
- Collaborating with influencers on social media
- Offering discounts
- Creating Google or Facebook Ad Campaign
Adjust Your Business Image
People are looking for information that is authentic, reliable, and comes from a trustworthy source. You can be that trustworthy source. If you own a restaurant, you can inform your customers what safety precautions you are taking while preparing orders.
But merely providing information won’t be enough. You need to make sure that the users have a pleasant experience while viewing information on your website. If you improve every aspect of the user experience online, viewers will be happy to return to your site. You can do that by:
Eliminating Broken Links-
These can turn users away from your website. If there is a broken link in your site, remove it as soon as possible, so it does not hinder your customers’ user experience.
Improving Page Speed –
If your site takes a long time to load, chances are that the user won’t wait for it to load and will leave your site. No business owner wants this to happen. So, take care of it.
Updating Your Google My Business Page-
You can inform your clients if there are changes in services or products, hours of operation, whether you are offering take-out or to-go ordering, or home deliveries.
Optimizing Website-
Ensure that your website is well-optimized. You need to make your website easy to read and navigate. This will make customers feel comfortable buying online from you.
Pay Attention to Your Content Strategy
We know that user intent has shifted for many search queries during the lockdown. People have started to search for new things and lockdown specific things. So, it becomes crucial that you pivot your content strategies to meet the customers’ changing needs and offer them exciting, informative, and engaging content.
You can write blogs telling what safety precautions you are taking while running your business, provide tips on how they can prepare their offices for returning to work, and even write articles on how your business can help them. Make sure you use the right keywords that your target audience is using to find relevant content.
Takeaway
The times are challenging for everyone, but you can beat the negative impact of Covid-19 by following the above-mentioned digital marketing tips for small businesses to survive COVID-19. Remember that now is the time when your customers need you the most. So be there for them and meet them where they spend most of their time, that is, online.
A content specialist who has written articles on digital marketing, SEO, and content writing. When she’s not writing, you can find her reading or watching cricket.
