Stop using Covid19 as your excuse.
When the world shut down back in March 2020, it sent the economy into a tailspin. Business owners were faced with unprecedented challenges, and many of them balked at an uncertain future. Employees were either laid off or fired to save money as establishments were forced to shut down.
In today’s rapidly evolving digital landscape, staying ahead means to INNOVATE or BUST. Embracing new technologies and strategies is not just an option; it’s a necessity for survival and growth.
Guess what?! WE’RE ALL GOING THROUGH THE SAME SHIT. No one is immune so stop your crying and roll up your sleeves.
Somewhere along the pandemic path, we thought it would be a good idea to sing songs, create silly videos unrelated to our business goals and commiserate in cringe-worthy, kumbayah moments that “we are all in this together.”
Between sanitizing our hands and deciding which PPE masks to accessorize with, we forgot that we live in a capitalist society where the ONLY true business objective is making money; or at least, it should be. We protected our faces, but we forgot about our brains and our balls.
In a state of emergency, we have lost sight of our visions for expansion, and we ran from our passion for profitable growth.
We also forgot how to advertise to our core demographic. This past spring saw a trend toward coddling customers instead of flexing our marketing muscles. So careful were businesses not to upset the status quo in crises that we became lambs instead of lions. And with a second wave of COVID on the rise, business owners are faced with yet another chance to flounder once again.
“If you want to stay in business, you can’t stay idle for long… Being conservative feels like a safe choice when there’s uncertainly about how long the crisis will last. But we have to balance financial responsibility with the need to keep consumers informed and engaged when things get tough.”
In a survey conducted in July 2020, 62.3% percent of marketers noted that marketing initiatives were even more critical during the pandemic. And with online sales peaking at a 43% increase within a span of three months, the opportunities to advertise and sell are ripe for the picking.
“Even as marketing budgets are shrinking, marketers still expect an 8.4% increase in digital marketing spending over the next year. The challenge for marketers is how to use their digital dollars wisely to impact the customer experience.”
So, please! It’s not COVID’s fault, it’s yours. You are not embracing channels that drive sales, customer loyalty and… profit!!
The second wave won’t be kinder so is your business fighting or fleeing? Will you cozy up and cry into your face covering, or will you embrace the chance to make some cold, hard cash?
The truth is that we are not ‘all in this together;’ the time is now to act in a way that will put your company on top. That is unless you interpret COVID-19 as just another unpaid vacation.
