The Covid-19 quarantine has been rough on small businesses of all kinds.
Now that we’re seeing most states loosen their quarantine restrictions, it’s time for small businesses to re-open our doors and get back to work. Simply going back to business like nothing happened could be disastrous, for a variety of reasons.
So, following are a few tips on how to get back to business by harnessing the power of the internet and implementing thoughtful digital marketing tools and strategies.
- Craft a Social Media Campaign
Now, more than ever, people are attuned to what’s going on over social media. When you decide to relaunch operations, this is the perfect place to let your customers know what’s going on with your business. If you have an existing social media audience, it should be easy to get your “we’re open for business” message out to them, but if you don’t, there’ll be some work involved.
Following are few pointers on how to get your “open for business” message out through your Facebook and/or Instagram pages:
- Spruce up your Facebook page making sure your business hours are updated, and contact info is current and correct.
- Create a post that is current and relevant to the “re-opening” of your business. Perhaps running a special offer or promotion to help encourage your customers to start spending money with you again.
- Boost that same post or run an Ad Campaign. Invest $100 or $200 over a two week period to get the word out that you’re back. By spending a few bucks on Facebook/Instagram, you’ll be able to reach wider audiences with greater accuracy.
When If you need help sprucing up your social profiles or putting together a social campaign, get in touch with Sprout by calling (800) 617-6975 or filling out a contact form.
- Update Your Local Map Listings
It’s important for those searching for you to know what your hours of operation are. Not every business is re-opening, so people need to be able to go online to check that you are, in fact, open and welcoming customers. Hopefully, you changed your hours to reflect the quarantine on Google, Bing, etc., now it’s time to change them back.
Specifically, make sure to change your Google Map listing so that you can get those local searchers that might not follow you on social media yet.
- Tweak & Relaunch Your Ad Campaigns
If you’re running PPC or Facebook campaigns that were quarantine specific, you’ll want to put a pause on those. If you “paused” your PPC or Facebook Ad campaigns, you’ll want to consider turning those Ad campaigns back “On”.
Using Google Ads or Facebook Ads to promote your business and get in front of real customers fast…is one of the wisest investments you can make, digitally speaking. Your customers are using Google and Facebook for all kinds of research, news, purchasing decision, etc… which is exactly why your business should be properly represented on both!
- Offer “Back to Business” Deals & Special Offers
A good way to reinvigorate your customers, who are itching to get out of quarantine, is to offer up “back to business” deals for the first week or two that you’re re-opening your business.
You’ll have to work hard to rise above all of the other businesses that are likely to be opening up again in the coming weeks, but undeniable deals can do that.
Web and social media promotions are ideal, but as long as you’re implementing social distancing in your store, you can have in-store deals as well.
It’s Time to Get Back to Business
Most small businesses aren’t built to survive the kind of economic slowdown that we’ve been going through in 2020. But through the power of the internet and implementing thoughtful digital marketing strategies, it’s time to Get Back to Business!
If you need help with your digital marketing campaigns, whether it be social media, content marketing, or PPC, contact us at Sprout Media Lab.
