The pandemic has hit businesses hard all over the world since coronavirus reared its ugly head, and millions of businesses have been forced to close. Subsequently, millions more jobs have been lost because of this, causing financial despair all over the world. However, some businesses have managed to make it this far, and if you’re one of the lucky, then you’ll be looking for effective ways to ensure that your business survives this pandemic. Here are some tried and tested tips on how to effectively market your business during the pandemic.
Understand how to effectively reach your target audience
We all know that there’s a diverse range of people using social media in this day and age, but not everyone does, and it’s important to remember that. If your target audience is the elderly, for example, you may struggle to hit your demographic through social media as much as you’d like. Instead, opt for mediums of marketing such as adverts in magazines, newspapers and television adverts so that you can reach your target more effectively. Conduct research on your target audience so that you can choose the most effective medium of reaching them.
Save time with a marketing agency
Effective marketing takes a lot of time and effort, and if you’re busy with other operations in your business, you simply might not have the time to do it. However, you can use a digital marketing agency such as Herdl for many of your marketing needs such as SEO, website design, hosting, and email marketing. After all, if you’re going to do something right, it’s best left to the professionals! While hiring a marketing agency might be an investment, it’s one you should seriously consider to help improve your business’ visibility.
Take to social media…
Social media is the easiest, fastest, and most cost-effective method of reaching many people in one go. Create stunning graphics and videos that show what your business has to offer, and post them on all of your social media platforms on a regular basis. You should also include a link back to your website so that it’s easy for potential customers to head straight to the product they’re after. You should also do some hashtag research to ensure you’re going to hit the right people with your content. Remember when posting anything on social media to stick to your brand image so that your business becomes recognisable through colour schemes, fonts, imagery and your logo. You’ll thank yourself in the future!
…and through that use influencers to raise brand awareness
Finally, influencers are more powerful than you think, and could be extremely valuable to your business. Reach out to influencers in your industry to see if they’d be willing to review your products or services in return for a review on their social media platforms. Their followers will naturally click through and buy your products! You may have to pay an influencer too, depending on their following, but it’s an investment that will eventually pay for itself through the sales you make.
This COVID-19 pandemic is far from ideal. It would be nice if the entire virus could vanish so that we could go back to living our normal lives and getting by with what was always the norm. It’s still here, though, and it looks as though it’s going to be relatively prevalent until a vaccine can be created and distributed worldwide. So, seeing as we’re going to be staying in quarantine for a while (albeit in a few waves), we’re going to need to accept the fact that life might continue to be a little different for quite a while yet.
Even though we’re in this predicament, there’s still a lot of money to be made. Just because we’re seemingly stuck in this strange prison-like time, it doesn’t mean we all can’t grab a large slice of the pie for ourselves! For as long as there’s a will, there will be a way, so we can all make some money if we just knuckle down.
How can we do such a thing, though? Making money from home seems like such a specialist habit that only a select few have the brains and the privilege to do. That’s absolutely not the case, though. Anyone can do it – it’s just a case of doing a little research and then applying yourself. In all honesty, you’re bound only by your creativity in this regard – if you can think up a good enough kind of money-making method, then you might be able to genuinely monetize it pretty handsomely. For now, however, let’s go through just a few current ways one can make decent money from home:
Many, many businesses all over the world have to deal with tedious administrative work. Some people enjoy sitting down and getting the admin work done, but a lot prefer to focus on the practical, real hands-on side. This is why they hire an office assistant to help them out. At this time, business owners might not be able to bring people in to handle these kinds of tasks, and will, therefore, look for people online to help. There are many outlets you could use to sign up to a virtual assistant scheme – you just have to look online. You’ll do all the tasks required of an admin assistant, but it will all be done from the comfort of your own home.
Review Items And Websites
This is quite a niche idea, but it’s one that provides good money for people if they do it correctly. If you know a thing or two about browsing websites on the internet (or even web design as a whole), then you might be able to become a reviewer. There are services out there that allow people to review websites and give a ten-to-fifteen minute talk about the pros and cons. If you’ve got the confidence to speak for a while, then this might be a good idea for you. Reviewing websites, items, and all kinds of things might not seem like the fanciest thing to do, but it’s certainly an option for anyone.
Create An Online Store
Working from home allows people to use their creativity in ways that perhaps they never have before. Selling items online isn’t something we’ve all done before, but it’s certainly something we could all try. Whether it’s a case of creating your own items and having them shipped to you, or whether it’s a case of executing the dropshipping method, it’s definitely a real money-maker. Dropshipping is becoming more and more popular recently as it only really requires you to be the marketer and seller – you don’t have to deal with large amounts of stock or things like a paypal foreign transaction fee biting you in the backside. Before you know it, you could be the owner of a huge brand that is on the cusp on turning into an empire – all from the confines of your own home.
Write An Ebook
If you have a pen and paper, then you can create a world for others to enjoy. If you have a typewriter or a computer with a word processor, then you can publish something for others to buy. More and more people are bringing out Ebooks these days as it is becoming simpler to publish thanks to the way of the internet. If you have a compelling novel lined up or something that people would be interested in reading, then why not create something and put it on a blank canvas? You could make a fortune.
Simply Create A Social Media Account
If you have lots of followers on social media, then you could make quite a bit of money. Having such a large reach means you could be quite an influential character. Big companies might want to get in touch with you in order to promote their goods and/or services, and they’ll pay you to do so. Being an influencer is very profitable these days.
Start A Podcast
Podcasts are so popular nowadays due to their simple nature. People like being entertained while they go about their day. Podcasts allow people to listen consciously and unconsciously to all kinds of different content. Comedy, current events, and education seem to be the main and most popular kinds of listening material. You could create something and have people listen all over the world – you never know what you could accomplish with this kind of method. Many could then come in from sponsors.
Sell What You Already Have Online
We talked about creating an online store and selling goods to others, but the chances are that you already have a lot of valuable things stored in your home. Sure, if you’ve managed to shift a lot of the stuff you’ve been hoarding, then this might not be a viable option for you. Many of you probably have things in the attic or in the spare room, though. If you could be bothered, then you could make a fair bit of money by selling this stuff. If you can separate yourselves from the sentiment of the items, that is!
Play Competitive Online Games
It sounds like a silly pipe dream, but people can now make lots of money by playing video games and other kinds of contests online. The video game industry is booming, and eSports are very, very popular now. If you think you’re good enough, then get yourself online and test yourself against others – you never know what might happen. There’s also the likes of poker games, too, although it’s understandable if that might not be your cup of tea.
Start A YouTube Channel
Much like podcasts, people are interested in visual communication. It’s easier to take in information through watching and listening than it is to knuckle down and read of your own accord. If you have an idea and feel as though people might want to watch what you provide, then a YouTube channel would be a really good idea. YouTubers work from home a lot of the time and are able to rack up lots and lots of money. If you gain many subscribers, you’ll be able to do it for a living – it’s not a bad occupation, huh?
Work As A Freelancer
This is similar to the idea of becoming a virtual assistant for a while – the difference being that freelancing is more of a genuine career and not just doing a bit of admin for different clients. Writing content for websites, designing websites and logos, editing videos and taking part in other artistic projects – these are all great ideas if you’re looking to become a self-employed freelancer.
