The SmallBizLady Buzz - Issue 14

How to Invite Customers Back to Your Business Post Covid-19 Lockdown

Much of the country has reopened in the last week, and while there may not be a rush of customers just yet, you need to have a strategy. Eventually people will feel comfortable to leave their home, and having a communications policy in place to re-engage customers will ease the transition to a new normal.

To help you develop your post-COVID-19 lockdown strategy, here are a few tips for effectively communicating information to encourage your customers to engage.

1. Communicate How You Will Keep Your Customers Safe

Leverage your website and social media account to announce how you’ll resume operations. Share how you’ll offer contactless transactions, safeguards, and other necessary precautions for staff and customers. Be sure to add any post-quarantine announcements to your website’s homepage, so it can’t be missed.

2. Email Your Customers

Send out an email campaign to update your entire list. If you have a newsletter, you can put your updates in it or send a dedicated email blast to let people know your new store hours or if you’ll be offering or requiring masks. An email campaign is a good way to send updates on your new business practices to your customers. 

3. Offer Welcome Back Discounts

The quarantine and massive unemployment has negatively affected many people's finances. Your customers may feel hesitant to spend money on anything that isn’t an absolute necessity. You need to support them in their time of need by offering a welcome back discount for a limited-time. Develop a creative discount strategy to convince customers to re-engage with your business. If you are a hair salon or barber, offer buy one service get your next visit or a second service 50% off.

4. Listen to customer feedback

Businesses will need to closely monitor customer feedback and be willing to pivot strategy based on changing demands. Businesses that offered contactless delivery and streaming during the lockdown may need to continue to see if there’s demand for these services now that the quarantine has ended in most states. Customers may still find these services more convenient. Businesses that listen and adjust strategy based on customer feedback will improve customer satisfaction in the long term. 

Try these strategies to make sure your customers know what is going on.

If you are looking to build an online brand, blogging is a great way to do it. This week’s featured article is the last in my three-part series, Blogging For Business Part III, How to Monetize a Blog. Enjoy.

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Blogging for Small Business Part III – How to Monetize Your Blog

If you treat your blog like a business, you could one day blog for money. This is Part III of my series on blogging for small businesses. In Part I, we talked about how to develop a content strategy. In Part II, we discussed how to promote your small business blog. This blog is focused on how to monetize your blog and get paid to develop content.

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Work more collaboratively and get more done!

If you are looking for a productivity tool, Trello could be the right app for you. Trello is a visual tool for organizing your work and life. It's the perfect resource to organize all your projects at work, with your team, or anything in between. Be sure to look at a YouTube tutorial video to learn how to assign tasks, and then away you go.

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How to Create an Export Business with Laurel Delaney

Check out my recent podcast interview with Laurel Delaney, How to Create an Export Business. Laurel Delaney discusses how to enter into the international trade market, and overcome the barriers that may arise along the way. Laurel is a reputed global small business, exporting, and marketing expert with over 25 years of experience. She is the founder and President of management consulting company GlobeTrade, a company dedicated to elevating international entrepreneurship. Laurel is the best-selling author of Exporting: The Definitive Guide to Selling Abroad Profitably.

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Did you know that you are one idea away from being able to do anything you want?

If you are thinking about starting a business during this Pandemic, be sure to grab my bestselling book, Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months. It’s a helpful resource to develop a plan to start and run a successful business. It’s full of checklists and a month-by-month countdown to help to keep you from getting overwhelmed by everything you need to do. I wrote this book to help you benefit from all my hard learn lessons. Grab it today.

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Melinda F. Emerson, “SmallBizLady” is America’s #1 Small Business Expert. She is an internationally renowned keynote speaker on small business development, marketing and social selling. Melinda is also the president of the Quintessence Group, an award-winning marketing consulting firm based in Philadelphia, PA, serving Fortune 500 brands who target small business market. LinkedIn named her a Top Voice for 2019 in Small Business and Entrepreneurship. In addition to being a former NY Times columnist, she is frequently quoted by media organizations including The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, MSNBC, CNBC and Fox News. She is the host of #Smallbizchat LIVE and The SmallBizChat Podcast. A prolific writer, Melinda has published more than 5000 articles on her blog www.succeedasyourownboss.com. Her small business advice is widely read reaching more than 3 million entrepreneurs each week online. She is the bestselling author of Become Your Own Boss in 12 Months, 2nd Edition. Her latest book is Fix Your Business, a 90 Day Plan to Get Back Your Life and Reduce Chaos in Your Business.