Times are tough right now!
I am seeing a lot of small business owners that are panicking and are already being impacted by what is happening in the economy. I wanted to share a couple of thoughts before we dive into some brainstorming ideas! So, we’ve all been through recessions before, maybe some have gone through it personally without actually going through it in your business. I learned one important lesson last time, the people that are good and continue to be innovative and serve their clients are the businesses that come out shining when the recession is over. So, lets dive into some things that you might be thinking about doing so that we are all using this new space and technology we are having to embrace to grow Personally and professionally during this challenging time. Ready?
You have got to stand out from your competition! Here are some different industries and what I would be doing if I was in those spaces:
Travel Agents
Themed videos, especially Facebook live, to go along with whatever location is being talked about. Dressing up, using greenscreen backdrops just to make sure my audience knew I was fully amerced into this topic I was talking about. They may not buy today, but they aren’t going to forget you.
Restaurants and Cooks
I would be offering as much value as I could to the audience I’ve built, maybe by going live and making videos about recipes on how to cook for your family now that they are home all day. You could also come up with fun things for moms to cook who have their kids home all day. Teach your audience how to eat healthy, because the Lord knows we are all stress eating. Those videos are going to go a long way.
Bartenders
Hold some online mixology classes! Here is a fun idea, set up a camera and let people watch you practice, the authenticity is going to make people laugh. When this all passes and you are back behind the bar, I would hope that they are going to come and see you.
Retail Store Owners
Hold online parties to sell your clothes! Have people host their own parties and benefit from the sales they make, everyone loves benefits. Just because you can’t open your store doesn’t mean you can’t sell your clothes!
Massage Therapists
What if you went live and showed people how to do a shoulder massage to relieve a little stress? Use your spouse or partner or kids as an example! Make it fun! Let them be crabby, show people how it can calm them down.
Counselor
Continue to connect with your clients using phone calls or zoom, but the rest of us need you too! We need tips on how to get along with the people in our house, or how to diffuse arguments between our kids who no longer have the outlet of going to school. Address some issues happening right now, keep your business running and offer some additional value, for free, instead of capitalizing on it. I think this will ultimately help to grow your business in the end.
Fitness and Yoga Instructors
Take classes from in-person into a virtual space. Hopefully you can get people to pay for your virtual classes but draw people in by offering them small free little segments with specific poses. Giving them that one pose to make them feel better will draw them into your paid classes. This will show them the experts that we are and give them just a taste of what we can offer them. Set up good lighting, have good audio, and make this something that is sustainable!
Personal Care Industry
Identify products! Share short videos on products your clients can be using while they can’t see you. Getting these tips will make your clients more loyal to you. Show people how to do certain things on their own that will just fill the gaps until they can get back to you. This will be helpful to your clients and to potential clients you want to bring in!
Get creative!
Figure out who your audience is and how you can serve them. Use this time to build your business! This will be over at some point and I want you all to have a whole new list of clients ready to come see you when it is.
Bobbi Baehne
President, Think Big Go Local, Inc.
My mission at Think Big Go Local is to create a “buzz” around our client’s businesses online and in social media platforms so their message reaches their desired audience. We know that relationships are built and maintained online each and every day and work to make sure our clients are building credibility, authority and attracting new followers and clients . We don’t work in a cookie cutter environment, each of our clients is unique and their accounts are fully managed using their voice, talking to their specific audience and sharing value that keeps them coming back.