4 Marketing Opportunities Every Business Should Take Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic Keeping Your Business Open When the Doors are Closed

Summary

The COVID-19 pandemic has many small businesses reeling, unsure of what the future will hold. In this post, we share some marketing tips you can use to communicate with your customers and keep revenue coming in during this time.

Staying Connected with Customers in a Time of Social Distancing

Small businesses are the lifeblood of any community, and we know that many of you are feeling the impacts of the COVID-19 virus. Like many office-based businesses, we at Cougar Digital are doing our part to prevent its continued spread by working from our homes and making all client meetings virtual.

Events are unfolding rapidly, and no one quite knows what tomorrow will bring. Whether you're in the retail industry or the business-to-business sector, there are a few key opportunities that every business should consider to keep their customers updated during this time of crisis.

  • Add Temporary Hours to Your Google My Business Listing

    With many businesses altering their hours of operation, it's important to keep your business page updated with this information. Within the Google My Business dashboard, go to the Info tab and look for the hours section-you'll see an area dedicated to supplemental "irregular hours." The hours you put in this section are readily visible within Google Search and Maps.

  • Create Posts on Social Media and Google My Business

    People are looking to hear how their favorite businesses are faring and how they might still be able to support them during this time. In addition to posts on all your favorite social media channels, make sure to go into the Google My Business dashboard and add a post there. Keep in mind that the posts expire after seven days-make it an event post and it will last longer.

  • Offer Tips & Tricks Via a Blog Post

    In this time of hardship, we all need to support each other. Think about your area of expertise and what tips, tricks, and advice might help others. (That's what we're doing here!) Write a blog post about it, and link to this post from your social updates.

  • Update Your Website

    Add temporary hours (DO NOT replace your normal hours) and any other pertinent information to your home and contact pages. Link to your blog post for more information.

  • BONUS TIP: Add Video

    If you can, record a video of your and your team with a cell phone camera to make your blog post and social media posts more impactful.

Don't Forget: You Can Still Work ON Your Business

The old saying about making life's lemons into lemonade was created for times like these. You may not be able to work in your business, but you can spend this slow time working on your business. Now is a good time to strategize for the months ahead and create a plan for returning to business as usual. 

We're All in This Together!

We may be laying low, but we're not going stop doing what we do best. We feel a great responsibility to support our fellow small businesses in this great time of need, so please reach out to us in the coming days if there is anything we can do to help you promote your business or strategize for the future. We are here to help in any way we can, until this time of hardship is over.