Whether you are a small business owner or a large corporate brand, the same advice currently applies: Your company must pivot to survive and, more importantly, thrive Covid 19.
Here are five ways you can pivot your business to thrive in uncertain times.
- Adopt a growth mindset
This is a great time to create stronger relationship with your customers and find opportunities to grow. Show up, stay positive and continue to think about growth. Perhaps now is the time to invest in marketing, optimise operations, update your website or develop a new offering.. What can you focus on and control to ensure that you are prepared and ready when activity picks back up?
- Show up
Now is not the time to hide away until all this blows over. The brands that are visible right now are winning and will come out on the other side stronger than ever, with better brand goodwill and customer loyalty.
So now, reach out to all your clients and customers and make your availability known. Find out how they are doing. Ask what they need. Keep your brand top of mind, but demonstrate that you are there for your community.
By staying connected, you’ll better understand what’s going on and what your people need.
- Meet your customers where they are
Empathy is a powerful competitive advantage, especially in times like these. Strengthen your empathy muscle and adopt an empathetic mindset to see your customers in a different light. What is going on for them? How are they feeling? What could they use help with, and how can your offerings, skills and talents meet their needs?
A quick exercise I am currently doing with clients is asking them to write down 10-20 things your ideal customers or clients are thinking, feeling or needing right now. Consider context. See the world from their point of view. Now think about how you can address those needs, desires and emotional states with your content and offerings.
- Adapt your brand — but don’t change it
Your brand is at the core of who you are, who you serve, what value you offer and your voice. Your brand should be clear and consistent. But you should still adapt your brand’s offerings, content and messaging for the current moment.
You will continue to stand for what you stand for and serve the customers you always have. So use your existing brand voice to communicate information with care and concern. Reconnect to your purpose and let that guide your communication efforts.
- Create new offers
Get creative and be agile. Time is of the essence. How can you transform existing offerings into something new, if only for this time of crisis?
Ask yourself: What assets are at your disposal to address one of the customer needs you’ve identified? Can you easily package a delivery option, workshop, digital product or membership group to address current customer needs? What can you deliver virtually? What offerings can you focus on right now?
