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There are no times when we want our businesses to be quiet. Whether it’s due to temporary economic, social or environmental impacts, personal or staffing issues, or even just because you are seasonal.
Right now, most of us are in a forced situation of business closure or at best, a real slow down. Not ideal, but there are plenty of ways we can try to make the best of it and come out better on the other side.
Here’s our list of positive business development ideas that will help ensure when work gets back to normal, you will be in a much better position than before!
Online Business Listings – If you’ve already listed your business on the various free, freemium and paid websites, great! Now is the time to review your listings and get them up to date and consistent.
If you haven’t, use this time to start. The easiest thing to do is search ‘free online business listings’ via your favourite web browser, and get started. Aim for listing your business on at least 10 sites.
Blogs – Use the time to curate as many helpful and insightful blogs as possible. Focus on subjects your ideal customer would be interested in and get to work sharing your wisdom. Don’t upload them all now, create the content and then think about an ideal rollout plan. The idea is that you’re using the time now to get into a better position for the future. Publish them weekly, bi-weekly or monthly (depending on how many you create). Also consider aligning them with future marketing efforts.
Website – When was the last time you reviewed and updated your website? Now is the perfect time to get busy making your website the best online window for your company. Refresh all the copy, update images, add new important pages and remove old irrelevant ones. Use the time to research other sites in your industry and get ideas for making yours the best and most user friendly.
Marketing – Sort through all your marketing materials, physical and virtual. Are they up to date and still sending the right message? Do they align with your strategy for the next 12 months and have your latest branding and imagery? Whilst you might not have the budget or reasons to get new leaflets or booklets printed right now, there’s no harm getting organised and making it quick and easy for when you do. The same for online ads, banners and videos etc. Start organising them now, making sure they fit in with your future plans.
Existing Product or Service Review – Why not take some time to think about the current services and products you offer. In what ways can they be improved or better aligned to serve the current market – and in fact, the inevitable new market that will evolve once the ‘quiet period’ is over.
New Product or Service Review – As with the above, are there any new products or services you can add to your existing offerings? What are your competitors doing? Now is the time to think about ways you could improve what you have to offer.
Staff Benefits and Support – What do you currently have in place to help develop and motivate your team? Why do they want to work for you and not someone else? It’s something we should be thinking about all the time, but when you’re busy and business is booming it’s hard to find the time to continuously review the benefits and support available to your employees. Use this slow period to really think about the overall package you offer and make your company the one everyone wants to work for!
Company Structure – Shutting for a period, reducing staff numbers or having to work from home will force you to think about the structure of your business. You don’t have to wait for these things to happen in order to consider if your current structure is the most effective and efficient for your company, but when it does, why not make the most of it by thinking about how you can best progress moving forwards.
Cashflow Forecasting – It might seem difficult or pointless during times of change to work out your cashflow forecast for the coming months or years, but in actuality it’s an important time to do so. You have much of the information you need from previous trading periods, and can research and engage with others who can help.
Accounts – Get your bookkeeping up to date. Sort through those receipts, invoices and purchase orders. Input everything onto your accounting system and surprise your accountant by being ahead of the game for a change! Use this time to get up straight before business gets back to ‘normal’, taking a weight off your shoulders – for a while, at least.
Business Plans and Goals – Get back to basics and remind yourself of your goals for your business. Why you do what you do and what you want to achieve overall. Have a think about the future and realign any new ideas and plans. Give yourself the chance to daydream and reimagine, and get to work rekindling your focus.
Social Media Scheduling – Hopefully you’re still out there on your company social media channels, interacting with your audiences regardless of the current status of your business. You don’t want to be forgotten or dropped by the wayside because you lost interest! Importantly though, you could also be thinking about the future of your social media marketing strategy. When it’s all ‘BAU’ and you’re incredibly busy back on the day to day runnings, having a quality staple of posts, images and content to share would remove some of the pressure. Even better, scheduling that content in advance will save you valuable time each day that you can use for interacting instead!
This isn’t an exhaustive list, but it’s a start. Hopefully it’ll inspire you to come up with more of your own proactive ways to use the quiet time productively and hit the ground running as soon as you return.
If you have any ideas, please share them with us, and if you’d like to chat any thoughts through, we’d be very happy to listen: makeithappen@mbsmih.com | 01903688789