As we are all aware (and probably sick of hearing) the current lockdown is hitting businesses hard. If your business is feeling the pinch, looking for ways to adapt and use your time productively to build a stronger business, then we have some ideas for you below.
Tips to improve your business:
- Review your business plan
- Remember that document you created about the direction you wanted to head with your business? When was the last time you revisited it and reflected on how your business is going? Is now the perfect time to take some time, sit back and plan a new direction for your business, write a new business plan and be ready for even bigger changes and growth.
- Optimise your marketing strategy
- Are you doing the basics to market your business? Seeking out low-budget, high-impact marketing strategies is key and wasting money on ineffective marketing is a common mistake we see all too often. You could take this time to test one or two new tactics and see which perform best before adding them to your marketing mix.
- Is now your chance to improve your Google ranking? Google Advertising and Search Engine Optimisation can be complex processes but get these right and you will see the rewards. It is important to optimise your business for local search so local consumers can easily find you – remember in these times everyone is looking to support local as much as they can.
- Set new goals
- Once you have a clear idea of where you see your business heading and your marketing strategy, you need to set goals and objectives for how you are going to achieve this. Goal setting and breaking down how you are going to tackle them are essential for the success of your business. Use the goals you set as an ongoing planning tool to ensure that you continue to move forward with your business.
- Set up online tools
- Your customers are still going to need your skills, services, advice and products, and if they can’t come to you, why not find a way to bring it to them? Could you be inventive and host events, workshops, meetings, “social” gatherings virtually? Are there other local businesses you could team up with to create a cool new offer? Meetings, client interactions, workshops, sales and more can all be done online. It is also possible to set up subscription-based portals to continue to provide services to your customers virtually and set up payment facilities.
- Plan for a rebrand
- What does your business branding say about you? Have you been meaning to update your logo, website, signage, packaging? Is your website clunky and under preforming against modern technology? Does your logo look like it was created using WordArt? Maybe it is time to start thinking of ways to improve the overall look and feel of your business brand and get ready to launch a brand new you!
Tips to do something for yourself:
- Upskill
- Remember that time when you wanted to sign up for that online course but didn’t have time to complete it, wanted to learn a new language, upskill your cooking or take some time to improve your gardening skills. What better time to focus on your personal skills!
- Update your personal social media
- Your personal social media also reflects you professionally and can have an impact on how people see your business (even when they are separate accounts). Take this time to review and update your profiles. LinkedIn is a great tool – is it up to date with your most recent experience, do you have connections and recommendations? Does your Facebook, and Instagram give out the right impression, is the content appropriate for potential clients doing their research? You are also the brand of your business and you need to ensure this is reflected in your personal content.
- Look after your wellbeing
- Looking after your personal wellbeing is so important right now and we need to ensure we continue to exercise and keep motivated. To help get motivated check out the free trials on some of our local client’s fitness websites: Micah Health and Fitness and Trained by Kylie
- Start a new hobby or project
- How amazing is it seeing everyone getting out all the things they started and then ran out of time to complete? Finish knitting that scarf, start painting again, where are all those puzzles, jump on the trampoline with your kids, can you still rollerblade or play basketball? Why not try something new in your own backyard?
- Take a Break
- Most importantly don’t forget that we can just use this time to relax and reset ourselves! We don’t have to use this time to be amazing and become master chefs fluent in three languages. Life is hard work and sometimes the best way to improve you, your business and reignite your passion is to just take a break.
Here at Design Garage, we offer free online consultations for all businesses looking to adapt to their business model or just need some helpful advice and a friendly new face to talk to. Our team is digitally set up in New Zealand and Australia and are ready for some human interaction – give us a call or email us to set up a video conference.
No matter what you and your business do during this downtime, we hope you are keeping safe, taking care of yourself and your loved ones.
