Without a moment of doubt, COVID–19 continues to redefine Business As Usual

As an online 1:1 Private Business Coach based in Sydney’s Eastern Suburbs, I’m Business Coaching many Business Owners through the pandemic. This includes Small Business’s mainly within the spaces of Health, Fitness, Wellness, Beauty, Hospitality as well as Corporate sectors including Legal, Accounting, and many more.

Whether you’re online, offline, a product or service; I help Small Business Owners recognise what they need to do to move their businesses forwards.

While the short-term outlook for small businesses varies greatly by industry, it’s important to relook at facets of your business to ensure you’re operating in a way which will work best in this new climate we continue to face.

In most cases, you will also need to alter your Marketing Strategies, and in some cases your allocated spend and focus.

Below are 7 tips for adjusting your Small Business as we wade through COVID-19:

1.Revisit your Business Model

Re-evaluate your foundation, structure, pricing and business model. What this may have worked well pre-COVID-19, most will find fine-tuning necessary.

Businesses are adopting a digital aspect in some way or another. Those that are online are diversifying, and those yet to embrace the online world are ensuring they have offerings which can be accessed via a website, portal or at least, social media.

Building or rebuilding your digital interface is extremely important

Understanding how your industry has been affected by coronavirus is also necessary. When looking at your industry, look at the trends and find opportunities. Finding a gap that your business can fill can be critical to moving forwards.

2.Communication

• Understanding your customers’ needs in this new landscape will help you tailor your business and communications. Stop to evaluate where your customers mindset & behaviour currently sits.

• While business is starting to pick up for many, the economic impact from COVID-19 will continue for quite some time. Trying to forecast is very difficult. While many businesses will start to downscale advertising, it’s actually a very good time to advertise and expand your brand awareness. Increasing advertising and content marketing will help you become top of mind. How you do this will depend on your budget, marketing channels, industry as well as your consumer behaviour.

• Great news is that with technology, doors can be opened. Whether you’re creating a virtual event, online hub or expanding your digital marketing solutions; there is always a way to continue to nurture your customers and expand your audience.

3.Business Efficiency

• Relook at how you’ve run your business in the past. I can guarantee you there are ways to become more cost efficient and productive. This is something we are always looking at during our Business Coaching meetings. There will be adjustments you can make so you can do more with less.

• Become extremely clear on your business’s strengths and weaknesses. Then, look at what was working before that may not work as well now and see where you can adjust or improve to remain competitive. Finally, don’t forget to revisit your business goals to make sure they’re realistic given the current circumstances. You will most likely need to revisit these aspects.

4.Marketing Strategies

• Most likely you’ll also need to relook at your overall Marketing Strategies. This includes your overall Marketing Strategies, Content Marketing & Key Messages.

5.Budget & Reserves

• Cashflow is king. This is often a pain point for Small Businesses even in the best of times. I stress the importance of having a cash reserve, particularly in this climate.

• With most businesses digitising, you will most likely need to spend money, even if times are lean. Relook at your budgets to account for a shift in spending / reallocation.

• I’m seeing many Small Business Owners spending in areas such as new products, new branding / websites / membership portals, signage and adjusted fit-outs.

6.Timelines

• Put together a realistic timeline to help reset priorities and goals

• As you take steps forward, track your progress. Checking in weekly to see what’s working and what’s not will help you adjust along the way. You will eventually shift to reviewing your business financials & progress less often as our environment begins to stabilise.

7.Contingency Plan

We now know that there will continue to be some form of lockdowns & unforeseen circumstances. PLUS, these will happen quickly.

The disruption can be stressful and also detrimental to your business.

Build up cash savings where possible, diversify and digitise. You will have also learned the importance of adapting quickly. Thinking outside-the-box for a worst-case scenario is important, and having a contingency plan should be very high on your list for planning.

ALISON MORGAN IS A LEADING ONLINE BUSINESS COACH BASED IN SYDNEY.

ALISON HAS COACHED SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS 1:1 FOR OVER 8 YEARS.

WHETHER YOU’RE A START UP OR WELL ESTABLISHED, ALISON HAS THE ABILITY TO IDENTIFY WAYS TO GROW AND EVOLVE YOUR BUSINESS WHICH SUITS YOUR STYLE AND YOUR MARKET.

ALISON ALSO HAS A BOUTIQUE BRANDING & DESIGN STUDIO, STICKY STUDIO.

ALISON WORKS WITH THE TEAM TO PRODUCE AGENCY STANDARD LOGOS, BRANDING, WEBSITES, ONLINE COURSES, PACKAGING DESIGN AND MORE ~ AFFORDABLE FOR SMALL BUSINESS OWNERS.