Panic may have set in around you concerning the novel coronavirus pandemic, but it doesn’t have to be a part of your business plan. While you may have always expected the goal of your business to be making money, there comes a time (like now), when you might have to think about conserving money instead. This crisis won’t last forever, but in order to survive in the post-COVID world, you may need to rethink your business objectives. Here are a few tips to get you going in the right direction.
Be a Leader
Why does your reaction matter so much during this crisis? No matter what your company has endured, you need to provide hope for your employees. This can be done by presenting strong leadership and a tangible plan. Employees who have a good idea of what is going on are not only more productive, but they’re also more reassuring to their customers. No one wants to do business with a company that isn’t sure if they’ll be around next week. The world could potentially look very different after COVID-19, and the most enduring companies have had great leadership and direction.
Take Darwin Smith from Kimberly-Clark for example. Smith made one of the most dramatic business decisions in history by selling Kimberly-Clark’s paper mills to sell paper-based consumer products in order to save the freefalling company. Scott Paper was on the verge of buying out Kimberly-Clark, but Smith saw the writing on the wall that the core business of Kimberly-Clark was always going to be mediocre. Smith redirected the proceeds from the papermill sales into brands like Huggies and Kleenex. This move was considered idiotic at the time, but Smith singlehandedly saved his company from being bought out by the “big kids on the block,” Scott Paper. Eventually, Kimberly-Clark ended up being the buyers, acquiring Scott Paper 25 years later.
Smith faced a landscape that was uncertain at best, and bleak at worst. However, he continued to humbly but confidently grow Kimberly-Clark into the industry giant it is today. Our world after COVID-19 lockdown presents the same challenges and opportunities for everyone. How will you handle it?
Keep a Good Relationship with Your Surrounding Community
Patrons will remember who took the extra step to keep them safe during this pandemic and will reward you with future business. That extra step may look like donating what you have to essential workers or simply making sure your own employees are cared for. Since those payoffs won’t be seen immediately, it’s okay to ask your customers to pay it forward. Encourage them to purchase gift cards to keep your business afloat.
The post-COVID market may be difficult for people who are looking for new jobs, trying to recoup lost savings, or just have a lot of costs in getting their businesses back up and running. Helping people assimilate back into normal life after COVID-19 can be just as impactful as what you did during the pandemic. For example, restaurants are trying to create safe conditions for people to come and eat. Not only are you getting food cooked and served for you again, but you still get that “eating out” atmosphere. Trying to help your customers cope with the lasting effects and fears of COVID-19 is an important idea to think about for the future.
Save Where You Can
British advisory company Stand Back has indicated four steps to survive and be on the road to later thrive this difficult time. One of those steps is to preserve cash. No one is sure if or when this kind of pandemic could happen again, so being able to function on a smaller budget and having money put back for hard times is paramount. While that advice may seem obvious, there are many different places to find savings.
One might be in your marketing department. Having a marketer on staff can be expensive. You have salaries, benefits, vacation, sick leave, and more invested in that person. Plus they would have to handle content writing, social media, press releases, event planning, and a host of other responsibilities. To be successful, they would need help. That means more salaries, benefits, et cetera.
Outsourcing to Little Red Writing saves you by making an in-house team unnecessary. There’s no overhead, and our team is a multi-talented group with 50+ years of writing in various industries. This allows us to have knowledge of your industry to create amazing content without extensive training. We can write content for your website, white papers/case studies, curate your social media presence, and even publish your book. So if you’re looking for a way to cut costs to help conserve funds, Little Red Writing would be a great place to start.
