In this blog we aim to provide you with an overview of the many different ways in which you can fortify your business and stay strong in the face of the challenges of the pandemic.

Tips for reopening amid challenges 

As you reopen your business, you have to be ready for anything that may come your way. When it comes to reopening, there are three main areas that you need to think about. In no specific order they are:

• Strengthening your business to keep running.
• Bringing back your employees and making them feel safe. 
• Making your customers feel safe. 

Let’s take a look at each of these areas and walk through what you can do or avoid.

How you can strengthen your business to keep it running 

Don’t just reopen, reinvent 

The challenge here is that nobody is certain about the complexities that the pandemic might still pose in the future. But there are ways in which you can prepare yourself and adapt to them. It is an enormous challenge, yes, but you also have a great opportunity to build better and stronger competencies.

So what can you do given these circumstances? 

• Be ready to change as a business as when the need arises. So when you do open, keep it scalable and flexible. 
• Communicate with your employees for better trust, invest in making the workplace safe and sound. 
• Think of new ways in which you can serve your customers and your employees to meet their present needs.

Cut costs intelligently 

Take a run through the financial projections that you have before you cut down your costs. You need to be focusing on growing your way out of the pandemic and not struggling within it constantly. So be mindful to only make cuts in areas that won’t impact your ability to operate or your capacity to make revenue.

Deal with supply chain issues 

You may be opening but your vendors and supply chain partners may not be able to. Imports have been restricted in almost all countries that have been affected, so start tapping into local vendors and stable alternatives so that you can keep your workflow going.

Make your workplace as safe a possible 

Health and safety has to be the biggest point of focus. Hire a cleaning service that will carry out deep cleaning. Every area and aspect of the workplace has to be cleaned and disinfected. It will help your employees feel safer about returning to work. Now, increase the daily cleaning standards of the workplace. Multiple disinfecting sessions through a single day will be needed.

You have reinvented yourself and brought back your team. Now how can you now make customers feel safe as you’re promoting your business’ reopening?

This is probably the most important aspect of reopening your business. No matter how well you have reinvented yourself and how positive your team feels to be back at work, if you cannot convince your customers to buy from you and if you cannot make them feel safe enough to do so, you will be at a loss. 

Implementing the right promotional and marketing strategies means that you tell your customers that their safety is top priority and that can trust you to maintain that. On your end, you also need to keep costs low. You can use a creative combination of both digital and print marketing methods to get this done.

Be mindful of your customers changing needs 

Consider how your target audience’s needs have changed. What are they currently going through and what are their concerns? When you know these, you can successfully address them through your marketing strategies.

Consider the new normal for you and your customers

Consider the questions below and find practical answers before you start marketing. 

• Are you imposing a limit on the number of people who can be in your store? 
• Has the appointment booking process become more restrictive? 
• Have the hours of operation changed, if so why?
• Has the availability of some of your services and products changed?
• Can you offer contactless delivery options? 
• What are the steps that you are taking to maintain social distancing and hygiene? 
• How will your staff be engaging with customers while maintaining social distancing and other health guidelines? 

You’ll need to know the answers to all these questions so that you can clearly and concisely explain then to your customers.

Update your website and social media pages 

Be sure to update each page of your website, with your new process and consider adding a pop-up to inform clients of when you’ll be re-opening. If you haven’t got the exact date figured out you can ask them to sign up for email updates. 

Blog posts are also a great way to keep your customers informed of the changes coming their way.

On social media you’ll be able to get your message across using a wider range of content. Consider a combination of static and animated posts, to highlight each new change. And combine these with a few posts that summarize them all. This will help communicate to you customers, that doing business with you is safe. 

Keep your email marketing going strong

As part of promoting your business’ reopening, you’ll want to focus on email marketing. It’s cost-effective and allows you to communicate with your customers regularly, and at length, if required. In your emails consider including the following:

• Announce that you are reopening. 
• Thank your customers for continuing to stand by you at a time like this. 
• Ensure them their safety and let them know that you value their health and safety. 
• Direct them to your website and your social media pages/ apps in use, so that they can get all the latest updates and figure out what works best for them. 
• Highlight any practices like wearing a mask, curbside pickup and the likes.

Listen, value feedback, and evolve 

Maintaining an active presence online is important as you’re promoting your business’ reopening. It will allow customers to reach you as they need to and share their needs. Try engaging them in this proactively and ask them for their feedback before your business is even opened and especially after you have resumed operations.

Find out what works and what is not working. Adapt accordingly and implement the changes your customers need. Where you may not be able to fully accommodate what they ask for, find a middle ground. This way you are not putting yourself in a difficult situation but also not completely disregarding your customers’ needs.

What can you do with print promotions? 

Traditional print designs can still come in handy for promoting your business’ reopening if you have a physical storefront:

• If you have a physical store, you can use printed signs to inform customers about your new safety measures. 
• You can clearly indicate using signs where customers should stand and/or sit, so as to maintain social distancing. 
• You can indicate just outside the entrance, whether customers must wear masks before entering and also provide hand sanitizer for them to use. 
• Use signage to announce you’re reopening, a few days before you open. This can go hand in hand with your digital promotions. 
• If they’re an option, billboards can also help carry your message to customers, loud and clear.

Moving forward 

Something we all would really like to have right about now, is control (and a version of 2020 that does not come with a virus). The reality though, is that we cannot hope to be in control of a global pandemic. But we can control our actions and be responsible, so that we minimize the spread.

So stay aware and alert, do not panic, and do not lose hope. Now is the time to fight back and not give up. Humanity has been through pandemics before and remained resilient. With the right preventative measures, we can stay the fight this time too. Expect the unexpected, and prepare for every situation you can. For all the rest, review, adapt, and keep evolving!