Is Your Business Ready for a Post Covid World? 3 Tips for Success

2020 will be remembered as a nightmare year. The start of the new decade had enough suffering and loss to last the entire decade. With several vaccines on the way, 2021 will be the rebound year for those who see opportunity in calamity. In the words of Rahm Emmanuel, former Mayor of Chicago, “Never let a good crisis go to waste.” And you have seen that entrepreneurs looked at the landscape, adjusted or shifted to meet the need, and were rewarded handsomely. Are you ready for a post Covid world?

Companies like Ford shifting to ventilators; restaurants shifting to contactless delivery and outdoor dining; businesses disinfecting the checkout station after every transaction; focusing on online delivery of services allowed many to acquire what they needed from home, rewarding Door Dash, Uber Eats, Publix delivery and many more.

How did these businesses react so quickly and chose the right direction? They looked at the landscape with optimistic glasses, where the opportunities shone brightly, instead of pessimistic glasses full of fear and blind spots.

We are closing 2020 and getting ready for 2021. With so much learned over the last year, again, several vaccines ready for deployment, and another stimulus check coming within the next 90 or fewer days, 2021 is sizing up to be the comeback year.

So, how are you gearing up to address the void left by the business you lost in 2020 and ensure you’re ready to grow again? However you shifted, retooled and/or adjusted, you now need to ensure your public knows you’re back and that you’ve adjusted to meet their needs… with marketing.

Things to consider

Your Website

Is your website designed for maximum effectiveness? Have you updated your look and feel to reflect the NEW you and attracting your audience back? Nothing says NEW AND IMPROVED better than a new look and feel. But it’s more than just a new look and feel, you need to deliver your message effectively, succinctly and powerfully. Your site needs to be designed to capture your visitors’ information, so you can continue the conversation. After all, no one buys on the first visit and people have the attention span of a gnat online. Your messaging must pull them in and make them see why they need you, in a nutshell.

The Modern Press Release

The old-fashioned press release has been revised and put on steroids. Many people have not considered press releases, because they believe social media has replaced it. The modern press release offers more than social media and is picked up nationally, online, providing several benefits:

• Hundreds to thousands of portals, magazines and news sites will pick up your press release, reaching people you would never had reached, for a percent of one cent per view. You are meeting people where they prefer to consume their news.
• Those placements create backlinks to your website, raising your SEO-ability.
• Those placements are marketing gold. Imagine putting on your website, brochure, business card, etc. “As seen on…” “As read on…” and have the logos of ABC, CBS, Miami Herald, Boston Herald, NBC, the CW, and more. It is instant credibility and help people get over the buying decision hump.
• The modern press release allows a video to be provided, imagery and links to your website. This way, they can see the video on whichever website they saw your press release, and then click on a direct link to your site if they are interested in what you have to offer.

If you’re not familiar with the modern press release, get your questions answered. You will be surprised at how much benefit it has to offer.

Animated Video

Animated videos have become extremely popular and effective. From pharmaceutical companies to online services to tax services and more. Here’s Turbo Tax’s commercial as an example (click to see video Turbo Tax).

A one-minute or 30-second video is more powerful than a long article sharing your entire message to read. And they are cost effective! You can get a one-minute video, with a script, from $500 to $1,000. Creating a standard commercial runs several thousand dollars, because you need to hire actors and talent. So, look for these!

Of course there are the mainstay email/newsletter marketing and social media. Whatever you feel best tells your story, budget for it now and get it either done or on order. It will ensure you are on the production calendar to meet your timetable, and it will be a tax write off in January 2021 (fewer than 30 days away).

Whatever you decide to do, you need to get going now to be ready after New Years to start pushing your message. Don’t procrastinate. Beat your competition to the punch and make sure you get your share of the pie.