2020 has been a difficult year for the vast majority of us. The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc around the world, causing governments to put out stay at home orders back in March, encouraging all non essential workers to stay at home and all non essential tangible businesses to close their doors.
This has had a huge financial impact on many of us. Countless businesses have gone under. Countless numbers of people have lost their jobs.
On top of this, people have less money or are more reluctant to spend their money, causing businesses that are able to get by on a remote basis to start failing through a lack of sales too.
In a bid to end this vicious cycle, many governments are now lifting restrictions to help businesses open back up and get back on track. If you’re running one of these businesses, you are going to face all sorts of challenges when it comes to selling your goods and keeping afloat.
Here are just a few different ways you can help your business to make sales and generate a profit, even during these trying times.
Ensure Customers Know You Are Open
The first step you need to take to start making sales again is to ensure that people know you are open for business. So many businesses have been closed for so many months that people automatically assume that they’re still closed. You need to make it loud and clear that you are open to encourage people to visit or shop with you.
Really Focus on Online Operations
Sure, people can head back into your physical store. But many are still reluctant to face the outside world and would much rather stay within the confines of their own homes. So, you really need to focus on online operations to get the most sales possible. Here are a few ways to achieve this.
Offer Online Orders
While many retail stores already offer online orders, this is new territory for restaurants, cafes and other similar businesses. Offering a takeaway or delivery service where customers can make online orders can really help to boost your sales.
Use the services of website designer or developer to create a page and system that allows online payments. Use a copywriter to promote the service. Take product photos of the new takeaway food.
Focus on SEO
SEO is going to be one of your most valuable tools right now. It stands for search engine optimisation and is the process of getting your website to rank as highly in search engine results as possible.
Ranking above your competitors increases your chances of customers clicking through to your site and making purchases with you instead. Use an SEO Agency to take care of this work. They’ll know all the tricks to get you ranking highly as quickly as possible.
Use Social Media to Your Advantage
As we’ve highlighted above, it’s important to let people know that you are open and operating. Social media can help you to spread the word around your regulars, as well as exposing your brand to people who might not have seen you before.
Give Customers Confidence
If you have a brick and mortar store or another business that requires face to face contact with customers, such as a cafe or restaurant, you’re going to have to reassure customers that this is a safe space to spend time and shop, eat or drink.
Implement measures to make your space as safe as possible and shout about them across all of your platforms, including your website, your social media feeds, your app and more. Let people know that you have taken measures like:
Sure, this is going to be a pretty difficult time for your business. You’re going to have to pull out all of the stops to make sure that customers know you’re operating, to draw customers into your store or to encourage your customers to part with money that they may be pretty reluctant to spend.
Hopefully, some of the above advice will help your business to get started back out in the right direction. The steps are relatively simple, but they really can make all the difference!
