While it may be frustrating to be away from your business at the moment, the lockdown will not last forever and businesses need to be prepared for when it's lifted, and they can begin to run again. This may be further away for some sectors than others, but there are things that all businesses can be getting on with during the lockdown. Here are minc’s tips for how to continue to improve and grow your business in these strange times.
Try to increase your online presence While no one is outside at the moment, the one place where people are meeting and socialising more than ever is online. Of course, having an online presence is essential to your business anyway, but you can take this opportunity to expand your presence. Focus as much of your marketing resources as possible into online and social media. Coming up with a participatory campaign for your Facebook or Twitter page is guaranteed to get that bit more engagement in the current climate, with quizzes and contests regularly going viral due to the density of people online at the moment. Figuring out some way to support the NHS through your content is another great way to get some positive PR and donate some money to a good cause. You have time to experiment right now, so learn lessons about what kinds of content perform well with your audience in terms of both form and subject.
Get involved with your local community While you may not be getting as much business as you’re used to, a great way to encourage people to come back to you quickly once lockdown ends, and do some good, is to use whatever resources you still have available to help your community. Perhaps get in touch with a local NHS Trust and offer to provide some goods or services for free, or perhaps use some company vehicles to make deliveries to the elderly. You will build goodwill in your local area, increase your name recognition, and create some heart-warming content for your online channels, a triple win!
Make sure everything is in order for when you can return to work Lockdown came suddenly for most of us, so there’s likely some projects that had to be dropped or orders that may have gone unfulfilled. Take the time to evaluate your current workload and figure out what can be done now while still in lockdown and what will be the most efficient way for you and your employees to return to work. What needs to take priority? Are there any employees that may need to stay off work for longer due to their vulnerability? Are there any suppliers or partners that need to be coordinated with? Furthermore, take some time to evaluate your processes and the way you do things currently. Think about how you can make them more efficient, increase value-added, and of course, how you may be able to introduce remote working to areas of the business where it currently isn’t available.
Evaluate your team
Like many businesses, you may have had to place people on furlough in order to cut costs and save jobs. How you chose to bring these people back will be a key part of your strategy for the rest of 2020. There’s a fine line between keeping people off as long as possible to potentially save more money, but you run the risk of being short-staffed and having to turn down work if your team is spread too thinly. With the government’s news that the furlough scheme will remain until October, it may also be that you are planning to put further staff on furlough. If you’re having difficulty with navigating the Government’s various schemes and assistance programmes for coronavirus lockdown, minc can assist you through the furlough process to ensure everything you do is correct and HR compliant. Find out more at minc’s covid19 support: https://www.mincgroup.co.uk/Pages/Coronavirus