Post Pandemic Marketing - Why it is important to plan now

With most businesses focused on how to stay afloat and keep everything working the best way they possibly can during the pandemic it is understandable that thinking about future marketing campaigns is probably not front of mind. 

But when lock down is lifted, business as usual is unlikely to return in the same shape as it left. Many businesses will have remodelled or diversified and new ones will have launched which means there will be more operating in your market space. With everyone hungry for business and in need of income, your market is likely to be more competitive than you have ever seen it before.

My advice is start planning your post pandemic marketing activity now. After lock down you will want your business to be able to hit the ground running. You will need to proactively fire up the marketing machine both to attract new customers and to make sure your existing ones don’t waver and decide to do business elsewhere, or even just do without your product or service for a while.

So, how can you activate planning within your business in the absence of a specialist marketing team or without the ability to pay for new creative ideas or additional marketing support? Here are some of my thoughts.

1. Firstly, unlock the creativity within your current team. Engage your homeworking employees that are perhaps not as fully employed or as busy as normal. Get them to help you research the market, potentially finding new customers or industries to work with.  Brainstorm and explore new ideas and include absolutely everyone in this activity. Sometimes the best ideas come from the most unlikely people. Generally, getting people thinking positively about the future is motivational and will help breathe some energy into the business.
2. Next take the time to train up some of your team in basic marketing techniques. There are loads of free marketing courses online to choose from and how to guides on pretty much everything from using social media to creating videos and smart sales presentations. Using this quieter time to train your team is valuable. View your employees as your business ambassadors and get them on board with what you are trying to do by giving them the tools to do it. Enable them to spread the word about your business effectively, which is where plenty new business can come from in the future.
3. Reach out to your network of strategic business partners. Find out if you can work together on new business marketing. Dual and cross marketing can be a strong way to convince new customers to do business with you, particularly if you are a relative unknown. Pool knowledge, databases and create mutually beneficial campaigns which you can both share in the cost.
4. Don’t be shy about talking to your trusted sales and marketing suppliers. Anyone who has successfully added value and helped you market your business in the past should be eager to help you with planning now. While you can’t expect this advice for free, the majority will happily throw some ideas around if there is a prospect of helping to implement the campaign in the future.

Finally, don’t give up. Remember a well planned and executed marketing campaign will pay dividends. The trick is to be fast, agile and ready to get out there when the lock down is lifted.

Good luck!