Despite the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, the public will always need goods and services as well as information. The big challenge we face is that it is not business as usual. Since we have no idea how long Covid-19 is going to play out or last, we have to change how we approach marketing and sales.
The good news is everyone is online more now than they have ever been. The bad news is they’re distracted, and our audience has changed their priorities. We now have to be careful about how and when to post online. A good idea is to plan what you post daily. This avoids mistakes and having our posts come off with the wrong tone. What we post is another challenge. Your online information should be one part about business, then have content from industry leaders and industry-related information, and lastly, have posts to personally involve your audience. Eighty percent of your posts should educate, solve problems, inform, and entertain your audience. The rest should promote your business. All of this is a balance that will be met with some trial and error because the ongoing pandemic is throwing everything for a loop.
The most important thing right now is to keep your business going. However, we will have to change our typical selling ideas to include many new approaches. The hard-sell approach has had its day. Its time to sell in a more mindful, down-to-earth way that includes our audience like never before. Here are some tips.
1. Offer to help
By helping your clients you, in turn, help your company. Create useful marketing content. Post useful tips. Events like this create a world of opportunity to share knowledge and information because many are looking for guidance and ways to lift their spirits while easing their stress.
2. Join in the distraction
Most of us are juggling working at home mixed with teaching our kids classes online. Our routines are have been flipped and we are not sure what is around the corner let alone when all this is going to end. All of this means you need to get online and often. If you don’t have a social media plan, The GDC Group can help you with that. Posting online is not an exact science. The one big rule to follow is to post daily with a constant schedule. This prevents you from posting junk content just because you need to get something out there.
3. Think of this as a long term approach
Let’s face it, the work world will be forever changed. Your clients and audience want a realistic approach to sales and marketing. In a way, we have had to simplify the way we do things daily. Travel is out and so is going to the mall. Routines have been flipped and many of us are just going through the motions. What we need to understand is your audience craves comfort and some sort of convenience. This convenience will have to come mostly online. If you have never considered selling information and products online, now is the time.
4. Stay informed
Like all things online, events like this pandemic create trends and ways of doing things. Your audience gravitates towards certain apps, posts, information sharing, memes, and videos regularly. For businesses to survive, we must join in what is now going on online. Speak their language in words and visuals and you will find your audience.
5. Q & A’s
If you do not ask your audience questions how will you know what they are looking for? If it’s a new product, ask for feedback. If you are taking services online, ask your audience what the best way to approach that either through video, phone, Skype, or email.
6. Share the love for your clients
Without your customers, you wouldn’t have a business. Show them how much you appreciate their support over the years. Share their feedback and their testimonials. Offer them a discount or something extra when they support you. Many will return the love for you either online or by word of mouth.
7. Offer something needed for free
Yes, you read that right. A perfect example is therapists offering to help their clients deal with the stress they are feeling right now. Some veterinarians are offering to help the pets owned by the homeless right now. Some are teaching for free and some companies are offering software to students for free. We are all in this together and we will survive this if we are willing to reach out and help as much as we can.