JOHN WEISENBERGER
 The General Manager's Coach/Consultant

Strategy #1: Prioritize Until It Hurts.

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Now is the time to adopt quality over quantity in your products and services offerings. I know it’s often hard and hurts to say NO to a customer but now’s the time to jettison those accounts that suck up all your time, energy and profit servicing them.

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Focus on marketing the products and services you can do in-house at the lowest cost, with the highest gross margins that give you the most profit, using the least amount of resources and drop everything else for now.

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AND, review which referral/endorsement sources give you the most revenue (not the most leads) but the most paid customers.

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ALSO, keep in touch with your current customers. The customers who already know, like and trust you are always your best opportunities so stay focused on them via email, text and social media.

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Give them reasons to like, share or comment on your content so other prospective customers, like them, will choose you as well.

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Strategy #2: Reaching Out to Your Best Customers

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In the coming months you won’t know how many consumers, or businesses, will still be able to afford your products or services. We do know unemployment has hit an all-time high so that means you’ll want to “target market” more than ever before.

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Obviously, business expenditures and consumer discretionary income will take a huge hit for the foreseeable future, so answer this question:

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Who is most likely affected and least likely to be affected by this economic contraction?

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You’ll need to laser focus on the businesses or consumers who have the financial wherewithal to not only weather the economic storm but also have the resources to move forward with planned business investments or consumer purchases.

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Every marketing and advertising dollar will count so you’ll need to prioritize and focus on:

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1. Current active customers, clients or patients who have given you money before.

2. Previous customers who know you but haven’t purchased for awhile

3. Those who came in, or called, for service estimates but didn’t book a paid session.

4. New customers who don’t know you yet, AND have the financial wherewithal to afford your services (target high-income zip codes, homeowners, professionals)

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Strategy #3: Build or Refresh Your Brand

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When an industry is saturated with a supply of providers you don’t want to compete on price. You need to compete on your brand reputation.

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However, your brand is NOT just your website. It’s only one piece of the puzzle of “brand YOU.” It’s the personality of your business and a promise to your customers.

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Your brand relays your values, what you want customers to feel when they interact with you, your employees and your business processes (think online ordering experience)

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As Jeff Bezos of Amazon says, “Branding is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”

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Your brand = Trust + Safety + Helping others so here’s what you can do:

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Safety: Make YouTube videos, checklists, statements talking about all the precautions you have put into place to protect your employees and customers from the virus.

Trust: Differentiate your business with your experience, skills and offerings that others can’t compare to when it comes to choosing the best provider.

Helping others: Show how you have a generous heart with pro-bono efforts and giving back to your community.

 

Now’s the time to refresh your brand image and messaging, if necessary, to position you for the “Next Normal.” If you haven’t updated your website in the last year, now’s the time to do it.

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Strategy #4: Digital and Social Media Marketing

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Digital Marketing

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The whole world just went digital so please adapt to it so you don’t get left behind.

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BUT, be sensitive with your messaging since digital marketing during COVID-19, depending on your product or service, could be touchy and could hurt your brand if there’s online blow-back towards something you say on Facebook or Twitter.

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Remember, your #1 objective with digital marketing, right now, is to build your brand awareness and loyalty along with your email list – NOT to market and sell your services.

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You can do that by following the 3 E’s:

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Empathy: The goal is to enter the conversation your customers are already having in their heads that you need to address such as showing your concern for your customers and employees more than promoting your products or services that could hurt your brand if you look greedy and insensitive.
 

Educate: You still have a huge population stuck on home and online all day looking around for answers to their questions. Do Q&A or “how to” videos or offer a free online coaching session, etc. during this time.
 

Entertain: Get attention and stand out by showing different facets of yourself so prospective customers get to know you better. Examples include you in the kitchen cooking for the family, how you stay fit, show off your dog tricks, etc. 

 

Social Media Advertising

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Here’s a surprise (NOT), Social Media is not free. You think you’re posting and reaching your customers but, in reality, only 5-10% of them are actually seeing your content.

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Just like you had to pay for ads in newspapers, radio and TV, you’ll have to pay for social media ads on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube. That’s just the reality.

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Pick one social media channel where your target customers hang out and then start thinking about how you plan to use that one social media channel as part of your restart plan. Don’t try to manage and advertise on more than one channel.

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Online Surveys/Polls

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One way to engage with prospective customers is to use surveys to ask three simple questions that will allow you to get a feel for where consumers’ or business buyers’ mindsets are at with things like:

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1. What do you miss the most about having access to our products or services?

2. Will you wait or come back now during the Phase 1 reopening?

3. What’s your biggest challenge right now?​​

 

Surveys work great if you have a way to get your survey in front of customers. One way would be to use a free SurveyMonkey.com link presented to customers through social media channels or direct email blasts.