We’ve now been at our “new normal” for quite some time, and the question of when business will be back remains popular and varies depending on where you reside. Local businesses are eager and (should be) starting to plan their back to business strategy now.
When crafting your back to business strategy, I recommend having an Option A and an Option B Plan (maybe even a plan C depending on the type of industry you are in). In the digital world, we are constantly A/B testing, as we should be. So, I challenge you to prepare as you would an A/B test. Some questions to consider when putting your plan together:
- If you’re posting on social media, are you coming up with content calendars that are easily adaptable?
- Do you have back up creative and copy in place for when you do open?
- Have you adapted your services or products to fit the new normal, and how are you communicating that to your customers?
- Is your team informed of these new processes and prepared to answers customer questions around them?
We’ve all heard of the pivoting strategy, which is still important, but now it’s the preparatory plan for scenarios we must be thinking of. How prepared are you to have a turn key plan when the lights are back on? One thing is for certain and that is the reality of many things that have not changed. For example, we just celebrated Cinco De Mayo. If you have social media of any sort, I can guarantee you witnessed a flood of posts of people and their taco Tuesday meals, a margarita, and more. That said, local restaurants serving the Mexican cuisine saw a great uptick in curbside to go orders and even surpassed many sales goals that day. What remained the same was the day. Through the pandemic or not, May 5th was still going to be May 5th, and that in which many would still celebrate Cinco De Mayo as usual, just from home. So, what’s next? Mother’s Day, Memorial Day, Father’s Day, 4th of July…to name a few. How are you preparing or how can you adapt to serve your community on those days? That’s one strategy to consider.
If you are looking for help on how put together your back to business strategy, our team is offering complimentary one-hour sessions to help you craft a plan. You can email blaur@hbi.com to reserve a time.