Life After Job Keeper: A COVID Rebound Strategy
As we're slowly released from COVID's cruel clutches, small business communities and their economies are shedding sighs of relief as the uphill battle from 2020 comes to a peak.
But while the year ahead appears promising, the stepping stones to financial restoration for most are still spaced far enough apart for that despair and uncertainty to linger and drain the optimism from business owners.
With the government deciding to cut supplements and other recovery-orientated payments, it's now time to overhaul your rejuvenation strategy and find better ways to penetrate the markets in which our new way of life now dictates.
Here are five things you can incorporate into your small business regeneration plans to strengthen your post-COVID bounce back:
Start preparing again right now
Studies suggest that over 60% of small businesses have been financially impacted during the pandemic at some stage, with a number of vital lessons extractable from these figures.
Don’t leave it another day to begin organising your business financially by starting to put funds aside for a rainy day (or a pandemic). You’ll need to ensure you’re not relying on the government and waiting months for assistance should something similar happen again.
Eliminating the non-essentials also plays a role in improved finance management. Analyse and appraise your expenses leaving only the necessities to operate your business (at least for a little while).
The reality is that events like COVID are bound to creep up intermittently, although unlikely not as severe or devastating, making personalised preparation your key weapon amidst the next battle.
Part of this preparation can oftentimes mean exploring a variety of new avenues allowing your business to return to the positive financial state it once was – Our Profit First Guide assists you to do just that.
The Profit First concept is a beneficial guide designed to help your business become more profitable sooner.
Find out more about our Profit First packages and assessments today.
Accept and adapt
Society, local communities and a number of the markets we were selling to pre-COVID have undoubtedly changed forever. The way consumers think, shop and desire to access goods and services has taken an even more dramatic shift to the online space as well as home delivery becoming a preferred option.
Our next move forward as small business owners is to accept these new demands and desires and adapt our operations accordingly if we want to profitably thrive through the next recovery phase.
Use this last leg of the low consumer confidence period to research, communicate and test some trial-and-error type theories with your audience to get a true grasp of how your market has now been shaped.
Demonstrate generosity by focusing on updated and improved services
Whether you’re a business owner, a customer or a struggling job seeker, COVID has affected us all in one way or another. Banding together in support and offering a little generosity where we can goes a long way in reassuring and reinforcing community confidence.
Perhaps it’s time to revamp your business model, your products and your services packages to help others in a time of crisis.
Offering a freebie, a discount or another reason to build new customers’ trust and existing ones’ loyalty is likely the best and most responsive marketing or advertising ploy you can put forward at the moment.
Use these tactics in conjunction with our previous tip by integrating them with your adaptation plan. These strategies are relatively low cost depending on your business and are more easily and effectively achieved while you have the extra time to trial and customise them.
Change your payment terms and conditions
If you’ve always been one to offer lenience regarding payment structures and invoice due dates, it’d be highly recommended to re-evaluate this part of your business now.
Assess and change your payment terms to better suit your business’ needs and most importantly, to ensure you’re paid properly and on time. If a major global catastrophe affects your clients’ ability to pay you, you shouldn’t be left in the lurch as you may have been this time around.
Just remember to provide your existing client base with adequate notice of any changes or expectations as well.
Make social media your primary focus
With more people ordering what they need online and spending the majority of their week at home, comes an increase in social media usage as well as gathering information and news from the net.
Using this to your advantage as a business owner is crucial as your target market are now wired in to the online world more than ever being their primary form of interaction and entertainment.
Develop a social media strategy and invest some time in engaging with your customers on a more personal level to increase brand awareness and update your clients on your new plans, services and offerings. You could even provide a platform for suggestions or feedback to consider when constructing your improved services.
You should also either begin or refurbish your content plan. Shoot some videos, put together a social media posting/update strategy or start a blog to boost customer interest, SEO analytics, website traffic and ultimately client retention.
The past twelve months have seen 'keeping afloat' top the list of challenges for small businesses Australia wide. However for those who have soldiered through miraculously finding a way to make it work, the next phase of survival has unfortunately just begun.
Let's start to make the switch from defence to offence together offering each other assistance as our business management methods are forced to restructure.
And while the government's helping hand has obviously been well welcomed, Aus
sie small business owners have proved their ability time and time again to overcome the odds through sheer resilience, a passion for their contribution and through community support.
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