Marketing Strategies Your Business Needs To Be Doing During COVID-19 Quarantine

The government has recommended that your non-essential business should close its doors during this COVID-19 crisis. You and your business are going through a period of confusion and uncertainty. 

So, Now What? 

How you market your business and stay in touch with your customers over the next several weeks will have a huge impact on how quickly your business recover. 

Here are some marketing strategies you must implement now! 

Google My Business

Update your Google My Business profile to provide the most accurate information to your customers. 

For example:

• Change your hours of operation if you’re closing early.
• Add more details to your description
• Or mark your business “Temporarily closed” on Google. (Marking your business temporarily closed will not affect search ranking and it will be treated similarly to open businesses).
• You can also update if your restaurant moves to takeout or delivery only. The updates will show on your Business Profile on Google Search and Maps.

Try to do this step ASAP. once you make changes to your business page, Google has to review your edits. At this time,  they’re prioritizing reviews for edits critical to health-related businesses, for open and closed states, special hours, temporary closures, business descriptions, and business attributes. 

Create a post:
Share more detailed and timely updates about what’s going on with your business through Posts. For example, add information about closures or reduced hours, or suggest the purchase of gift cards to support your business. You can continue to use Posts to directly communicate with your customers on a regular basis as your business changes. 

Connect with Google messages: 
Download the Google My Business app and turn on messaging as a way to help your customers reach you. If you aren’t reachable by phone or it’s after your business hours, messaging can help customers get the support they need.

Tip: To let your customers know your business status, you can write an automatic welcome message.

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Social Media Marketing

Communicating with customers via social media has never been more important. 

Every business owner should have at least a pinned post on their Facebook page sharing where their business is at in relation to the Coronavirus pandemic.
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Reach out to customers to see how they are doing -- start conversations and build connections. People will be craving human interaction.

Be honest and transparent without creating fear -- your posts should show empathy and compassion, rather than stress or fear.

Look for opportunities to help people --  use social media to reach out to those in need and see if you can help.

People will be looking for fun and entertaining content for distraction, so consider TikTok videos or Facebook Live.

Some content ideas:

• How have you adjusted to social distancing? 
• What products or services are still available. 
• If your business is offering delivery service, make a video or post that can be shared through your community. 

Using Video: While posting a graphic and some text on your social media channels is great, video creates a better connection with your customers. It conveys trust and authority. 
You don’t need fancy equipment- your smartphone will do just fine.  Practice what you want to say a few times, then hit record. If you mess up, don’t worry. just record again. Once you feel good about it go ahead and post on your social media just as you would a photograph. Keep in mind Instagram feed videos can’t be longer than 60 seconds.

Strengthen your relationship.

• Keep your focus on your availability. Make sure your clients know you are there for them. 

 

• Think of the most common questions or fears your clients may have and create videos to answer them and alleviating any fears.

 

• Or share fun videos of you baking cookies or working on a puzzle with your family.

 

• Share a quarantine playlist of your favorite songs or make a list of your favorite binge-worthy Netflix shows.

 

• Relate to your clients by showing them you are going through this just like they are.​

Conclusion:
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We all know things are a bit uncertain right now and information is constantly evolving. People are spending more and more time on social media looking for information and answers. 

Most businesses are waiting for the state government to give the ok to open their doors again. Until then, follow these marketing strategies to not only maintain but actually increase your relationship with your customers.

Spending an hour each day working on these marketing strategies will go a long way. Your goal at the end of this craziness is to have your customers look at you, not only as that person they do business with, but rather as a member of their community that they respect and trust has their best interest at heart. 

If this post was useful for you, follow us on social media @whitebaymarketing

Questions??  call or text 702-845-9784 & schedule a Free consultation.