Covid-19 has had a profound effect on the UK nation as a
whole with many industries coming to a grinding halt. The garment decoration
industry has not seen anything quite like it and yes it is difficult to see business
picking back up, but inevitably it will.
While it is a great challenge for businesses trying to
survive the pandemic it also presents a once in a lifetime opportunity to
reset, re-charge and prepare for what awaits once this is all over.
From a Marketing perspective it firstly provides a chance to
evaluate, analyse and review your existing strategy. Identify what is working
and conversely what is not working, areas you would like to target, areas that
are not being targeting effectively and work out how to get the maximum return
on your Marketing budget. Your purse strings going to be tighter than ever
before squeeze every bit of value out of your Marketing and plan accordingly.
With in-store promotions and local advertising grinding to a
complete halt this frees up some budget to potentially look at your business’s
online strategy
With website traffic being minimal it is the ideal chance to
assess your businesses website, review it, work on any maintenance, updates and
ensure it is full optimised and ready to go for a ‘re-launch’ when the time
comes.
Similar with other Online Marketing tools, look at things
like Sponsored Ads on Social Media, Google Adwords and identify if there is
opportunity for your business. Plan a strategy, budget and build all the key
words ready to go live to your audience once business is fully operational.
You might think all this sounds a bit costly. Where will the
budget come from with cashflow being tight, it is a great opportunity for a bit
of Marketing DIY. Grow your knowledge, skills and carry out the review and
analysis. Plus there is also a chance to broaden your skillset and carry out
these ideas yourself learning on the go, familiarising yourself with Social
Media channels, or testing our different pieces of software for CRM, Email
Campaigns, Social Media scheduling and so on.
It is an unprecedented time that presents many challenges
but the optimistic business owner the freed up time is a great opportunity to
look at your business, think of where it was, where it is now and think of
where you want it to be in a year’s time. Use the time to develop your skills
and your business, time wasted is time lost.
