Coronavirus: 4 tips on how to market yourself and stay sane

All businesses are having a tough time right now, and I can imagine you are all making the best of your time; redesigning, refurbishing, cleaning that month old stain no one has wanted to go near. But, you should make use of this time, it is more important than ever to stay on top of your business, keep creative and adapt. This article has four pieces of advice on how you can promote yourself and stay motivated during the ongoing coronavirus outbreaks.

1. Keep your customers informed

If you have a place where you usually serve your customers; an office, a bar, restaurant, cafe, etc. Take this time to revamp this area, not only does this mean that your business will look its best when you open back up, but also keeps your staff involved, preventing this situation from making you all feel detached. There are many ways to do it, for example,  take advantage of social media and post what progress and changes you make. Take before, during and after pictures when redesigning/revamping, to give your customers something to look forward to. You can do this however you want, make them funny, make them silly, I think we could all use a good laugh right now.

2. Take this time to strategise

While in full business swing, it can be hard to maintain a view on your plans, whether this is your target group, message, long and short term goals, etc. Use this as  an opportunity to re-evaluate yourself and your business. Have you hit your goals? Are things going the way you planned? Why? What do your colleagues/employees think? Should you be nicer to Tim in accounting? Was 10,000 spent on that lunch too much? Maybe you need sexy new stationery?

3. How has your market changed?

Take the time to identify and reach out to your key customers, ask them what they want to see in your business. This gives them a sense of involvement in your business, but also you then get to hear what your customer group(s) want straight from the horse’s mouth. Once you’ve collected all this information, you actually put it together and make it happen. Whether this is improving the location of your business, adding extra services or products, or even a full redesign. Then, make you use your time effectively so that when the time comes you’re ready to operate again at full force.

4. Stay relevant, keep motivated

There are many people who have to work from home right now, hey, I’m one of them. It can be difficult to operate for such a long time when out of the office and separately from your colleagues (the ones you like). Suddenly that question you could ask the person next to you goes unanswered on the work chat for hours, or the energy you got from the nonsensical chatter at lunchtime is gone. Maybe, just maybe, the manager breathing down your neck did help you finish on time. Not for me obviously, but maybe you.

Well, what can you do? Now’s the time to get creative, redesign your brand, push for the changes you’ve always seen but never had the time to make. If you think it was lost, find the meaning in your work again, what are you good at? What do you suck at? What do you want to do more of? Make an effort to keep in touch with your friends and colleagues and make sure everyone knows that even while you’re away from each other, you’re still a team. Finally, and most importantly, use this time to improve yourself.

What do you think of my advice? Got any other advice to give? How are you and yours keeping motivated right now? Please let me know in the comments below, I’d love to hear what you think.