Businesses are planning their strategies for the remainder of the year with the Unlock phase 1 and 2. The three months long Covid 19 lockdown has put small businesses under a lot of stress. They are uncertain about how and when will customers come back. Marketing and promoting their small business is very important, however the budget constraints need to be handled.
Here we will discuss some DIY and easy ways to market your small business at a zero or low budget.
- Create or update your “Google My Business” page. If you have not created a Google my Business page yet, put that on the top of your list. If you already have a page, update your profile.
- Google has marked businesses as “temporarily closed” during the lockdown. You would need to go and change that manually to let customers know that your business is open now. If the status says “temporarily closed”, customers may not call for enquiries
- Update latest images about your office, shop, team and products
- If you can come with a good offer or discount, update the details on your page
- Posts on your social media profiles. Let your customers and connections know that you have re-opened after the lockdown. Update all your personal and business profiles – LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook, Instagram. As mentioned above, post latest pictures and offer details on your profiles
- Schedule a series of email campaigns. You may use tools such as MailChimp or Send in Blue or if you have a smaller email list, you could send personal emails using mail merge.
- Let the first email be an announcement about re-opening. Enquire about the well-being of the recipient and her family. A quick update about your team and steps taken to re-open while following all health and safety precautions
- Second email should have the offer details – discount offer, subscription plan etc.
- Third email should be a follow-up on the offer shared in the second email
- Send a fourth email as a “Thank You” note to customers who have supported your business
- Create a team video. Video content has been the most popular in the last couple of years. Create a small video with your team. This could be a quick office or workplace tour, a demo of your products or a display of health and safety measures. Post the video on YouTube and all social media profiles
- Follow-up on old leads with calls and email. The sudden lockdown may have put a break on the lead management and sales process. Review the open leads with your team and re-engage the prospects. It is a good time to revisit the old lost leads and check if they have new requirements. If you do not have a lead management software or CRM, here the link to a free excel template for lead tracking.
