Coronavirus will bankrupt more people than it kills. How to remain competitive and stand apart from other businesses during this Coronavirus pandemic?
Global economy and most businesses are expected to take hit as Coronavirus outbreak shows no symptoms of slowing down after months of battles with over 350,000 cases reported worldwide and new cases added daily. This economic danger is exponentially greater than its threat to public’s health risk. It has already wiped off trillion of dollars from the financial markets thus far. Startups and businesses of all sizes could end up paying the price as a global recession is likely to ensue. The economic scars it leaves behind will be viciously long lasting.
Here’s how you can do to safeguard your business’ position and keep it alive:
Reduce and slowdown cash outflows
We don’t know what the next few weeks and months could bring as it presents an unprecedented threat to the global economy and future viability of many businesses. Therefore, it is vital to eliminate any expenses that is non essential to the core business as the worst has yet to come. Nevertheless, businesses also can mitigate losses through their existing insurance policies or facilitate any government relief scheme such as utilities discount and tax / loan deferment.
Recalibrate your plans and projects
Take this time to recalibrate projects and goals that are aligned with your current goals. You may want to lower down your inventory costs or revamp your product line or marketing campaign. Keep looking for opportunities to leapfrog competition, it might be the perfect time for you to reposition yourself in the market with a new initiative.
Build your online presence and expand internationally
With the current lockdown situation, most businesses are required to shutdown their operations. Hence, the web gives you an upper hand as it helps you access a much larger audience which includes people within your location and beyond. This will exposes your business to even more opportunities with the chance to operate on an international level.
Centralize and digitize meetings and increase productivity
Be open with your employees, hold virtual meetings and get everyone on the same page to weather this crisis together. With employees working remotely, all work and projects should be consolidated to ensure consistency, productivity and prevent any miscommunication throughout the process. This will ensure accountability and instant visibility across the team.
Build a website
If you do not have one yet, this will be the best time to build one. What will people do when they have to stay at home? Yes, you’re right. They will spend half of their time surfing the net. Thus, you’ll be losing out if you do not have a website to begin with. This will even be more beneficial for retailers as they can continue their business seamlessly through e-commerce. Educate your customers if you do not have anything to ‘sell’, giving more value to your customers.
Focus on brand building
With solid branding in place, it helps to confirm a company’s credibility and consistency in the marketplace. Good branding not only elevates a business, it also builds recognition and loyalty. People are connected through emotion. Customers will be more attracted to a brand which possesses or shares similar values with them. When you deliver what your brand promises, it will lead to returning customers and referrals.
Engage with your customers
Surely, this is no time to be timid. Engage with your customers through social media or weekly newsletter. It is important to keep in touch and interact with your customers. You can also get feedback from them through online reviews or keep them updated time to time. This will create more confidence and a positive image for your business. In order to prosper in tough times, you need to continue to expand your client base.
Certainly keeping your business afloat under the current economic circumstances is not easy, but not impossible. After all, the current Covid-19 will eventually be conquered and come to an end, in the meantime we need to stay put and strive to protect what we have or mitigate our losses for the very least to weather the impending storm.