These are unprecedented times. Times we have only ever seen in movies or on TV. Thousands of businesses are now at risk as their daily operations have shifted dramatically or stopped altogether. For some, this means the regretful decision of closing their doors. But it’s important to remember that for most, this is only temporary and it does not mean all hope is lost.
Many businesses around the world are coming up with new innovative ways to pivot their strategy to survive. PIER 23 has released plenty of tips on how to create the spark needed in these dark times. Whether that be restaurants releasing YouTube recipe videos, travel agencies creating dream destination boards on Pinterest or businesses pursuing the ‘gift card’ deal to keep money coming in the door. Delivery of products and services direct to people’s homes has also become a great revenue stream for those able to do so.
With people confined to their homes or near-empty offices, one incredibly important thing that businesses – especially small, local businesses – must now focus on is brand-building. There are three key values that we at PIER 23 think are incredibly important and, as ever, we will continue to work with small and medium businesses for free to help develop tailored support for your company.
Community
The first core value may seem a little difficult to envisage, especially when we have been told over and over again to keep our social distance. A community in this sense refers to a shared passion, a shared goal or a shared lifestyle. People in isolation can get incredibly lonely and so being able to connect with like-minded individuals is a great way to not only create a loyal customer base but also an amazing way to proliferate your brand message and publicise you’re core values.
An example of a community-building brand campaign right now is an online forum discussing the trials, tribulations or even successes of self-isolation.
If you own a bakery, why not invite some local residents to share photos online of their baking creations whilst at home? Don’t just offer home delivery of your bakery’s famous seeded buckwheat loaf (delish). Include a recipe in the delivery. You could even keep it going and deliver the individual ingredients with the bread itself so people can try and make it at home too. Offer a ‘baking kit’ at a cost suitable for you. When they make the bread themselves, encourage them to share pictures and tag your bakery’s brand.
Inspiration
When the mind has little to no stimulation, we tend to get distracted. Social media is going to be an incredibly important channel over the next few months as more and more people work from home and find themselves drifting onto Facebook, Twitter or Instagram every now and again. We’re all guilty of it – let’s not pretend.
Inspiration, in a time where the news is pretty bleak, will be an important form of escapism for many consumers. Whether this is the willingness to try something different, pick up a new skill or simply be entertained, all of these things require inspiration. This is something your brand can provide.
An example of an inspiring campaign right now for a small business would be to help people achieve something by the time their quarantine has finished. For example, if you’re a private language teacher that is struggling because of a lack of face-to-face interactions, why not move your classes online and set a goal for your students to achieve by the end of their quarantine – “Learn to ask what day of the week it is in Spanish before your quarantine is up or your money back”.
If you work in home improvements, why not post a step-by-step guide on how to fix a leaky tap. These things will get people to engage with your brand and put you in their thoughts for future purchases or services.
Even the previous example of a bakery could apply to this concept too – help people become better bakers by engaging and associating themselves with your brand and your products.
Anticipation
The final core concept to build during the COVID-19 outbreak is anticipation. You want consumers, or potential consumers, to have the feeling of ‘when I get out of here, this is going to be the first thing I do…’
This is obviously a more beneficial plan for the long-term rather than the here-and-now, but if you’re able to, it’s something that many small businesses often don’t get time to fully form in the ‘regular’ virusless real world and so is definitely worth putting time and resource towards. Whether it be a special ‘reintroduction to society’ offer or constant drip-feeding of tantalising content, it really can be a great way to build your audience’s intrigue.
Create an online content campaign full of visuals, something people can actually see and want to get involved in. Spending so much time inside makes people desperately want to stimulate their imagination.
Of course, if your small business is your sole source of income, you’ll need people to actually be engaging financially with your services. Building anticipation comes hand-in-hand with the gift card sales strategy. If it works for your business, get people excited to come and visit – maybe even offer a special perk to gift cards holders. Hopefully, it’s some of that famous seeded buckwheat loaf I was talking about earlier.
How to I stick those three values together?
Combining these three concepts for growth can be difficult and will depend entirely on the nature of your business. That’s why at PIER 23, we work with individual businesses and provide tailored support to help you specifically. Best of all? It’s free and it stays free. That’s incredibly important in a time where finances are uncertain.
An example of a campaign combining all three values could be a community rebuild project. What do I mean by that? Say you’re a local cafe, times are tough because you don’t have many customers and paying your staff might actually be losing you money.
You need to pivot your strategy. Bring in home deliveries for your baked and fresh goods. You could even sell the coffee beans you normally make your products with. Bring in discounted gift cards. Bring in online forums (just on Facebook or Instagram or even the app Nextdoor) discussing how locals are coping with the changes. You can introduce virtual coffee table chats for people to develop a sense of community and get them to interact with people in their local area online. And to keep going, build up to a ‘reopening ceremony’ where you invite those people from the online forum to contribute to getting your local business back on track.
In a time where it seems many things are hopeless, people always seek a purpose. Let your local business be something they support.
