Many entrepreneurs lost their business last year. They made the decision to shut down their operations after social distancing rules affected their revenue. While many were unable to keep their brands, some showed resiliency in the middle of these trying times. How did they do it? Aside from their owner’s fast thinking, their creative marketing strategies won the hearts of consumers who were sheltering in place.
Small business owners used a variety of tactics to continue catering to their customers despite the crisis. For the most part, they turned to online marketing. But even if offline marketing seems to be a waste of time, many used this opportunity to integrate different tactics to boost their chances of success.
Here’s how some small brands managed to win during the crisis:
Direct Mail
Many businesses thought the popularity and effectiveness of printed mails died after online marketing dominated the business world. But some businesses actually turned to send direct mails to their clients as a way to retain old customers. Some were even successful enough to entice clients to make repeat purchases.
Direct mail enables you to directly reach out to your customers. You already know their addresses, and more people are staying at home. Despite their increased internet usage, they are also spending more time checking on their mailboxes and are expecting deliveries they paid for online.
You can use direct mail to send out thank you cards, coupons, and catalogs along with your customer’s orders. These can be enough to tell your customers you are still waiting for their return, that you appreciate their loyalty to your brand, and that you take time to keep them engaged. Hiring the right professionals to do printing services for your brand will ensure you can grab the attention of your customers.
Live Streaming
It can be hard to maintain physical connections with consumers when they are socially distancing. They are spending less time shopping in real life and more time in the comforts of their home. What marketers did is start boosting their live streaming efforts to continue real-time engagements with their target audiences.
Live streaming is a better option for some brands. This allows them to connect with their audiences in real-time, answer their inquiries, and even reach out to international audiences. Live streaming is also extremely accessible to online users and its ease of usage acts as a natural way of engaging audiences.
Some brands don’t only sell their offers online. They also use this opportunity to better educate their audiences about important information they might need. This includes how to use their offers, how it can benefit them, what issues their products can solve, etc.
E-commerce Store Optimization
Businesses that started as brick-and-mortar brands now have their own websites. Those the sell physical goods invested in e-commerce stores where their target audiences can buy their offers. But in order to build traffic and entice visitors to complete their online purchase, one has to make sure their e-commerce store is optimized first.
An e-commerce store needs to have complete and reliable details. It needs to be user-friendly and can resonate with today’s online consumer needs and expectations. Since this is your digital storefront, it only makes sense that you optimize it to the best of your abilities.
Make sure you optimize your keywords. Create eye-catching product descriptions. Ensure your pages are working fast at all times.
Make sure you garner as many customer reviews online and showcase these on your website. Encourage old and new customers to provide feedback and leave reviews to help other consumers know more about your brand. If you did a great job in terms of your offers and customer service, they will be more than willing to spare a few minutes of their time for an online review.
Build your own community on social media
Social media platforms are no longer a means of getting more customers to like and follow your social media pages. It is also about building your brand’s community on social media. This will help you get to know more about your audiences and their needs during the pandemic.
Now is not the time to keep on selling hard. Be emphatic and strengthen your relationships with your customers. Let them know that you care about how they are doing and that you are doing the best you can to stay in business to keep on catering to their needs.
The shift in consumer needs and the market itself gave small business owners no choice but to rethink how they market their brand. You can no longer simply focus on selling your brand. You also need to think about how your customers are coping and what you can do to help. Give them a better experience, find ways to alleviate their pandemic blues, and you can retain and gain new customers even during these trying times.
