7 things you can do as a small business owner during coronavirus shutdown

Right now, fear of Covid-19 Coronavirus is having and impact on millions of small business owners. Many small retail stores have been forced to send staff home, close their doors, and in the worst cases, pause trading all together. If you are one of the unlucky people so heavily affected by these challenging times, we can’t imagine the stress, uncertainty and heartbreak you must be experiencing. 

If you have decided to wait out the shut down and come out the other side stronger and more vibrant than before, we have compiled 10 tips for things you can do to while your country is in shutdown. 

1. Build your online community
   This was an important job to spend energy on before everyone was locked inside.. and now people will be spending more time online than ever before, now is the time to extend your online reach, and nurture your existing customer relationships. You probably have a handful of regular customers who’s spending makes up a large chunk of your revenue. Be sure to know who they are, connect with them via your business social media page, and engage with them daily. This is also an opportunity to gather more online followers by conducting a competition in collaboration with complimentary (not competitive) brands or influencers.
   

2. Keep in communication
   Your community wants to know that they can rely on you to acknowledge whats really going on and speak to it with a sensible plan. Put an update on your website, socials or even send out an email letting everyone know how the Covid-19 situation will affect how you normally do business with them. Let them know you care.
   

3. Add value
   If you’re a retailer, nows the time to have a sale or create a deal. Free delivery, free gifts, online experiences. If you are a wholesaler, now is the time to add value for your existing stockists or attract potential new ones with deals, discounts, or special offers.
   

4. Learn a new skill
   You know have the time to do an online course to learn something new. Always had to outsource your Facebook Ads? Nows the time to learn the basics yourself. Always wanted to learn how to make ceramics you could sell in your own store? Get started. Your limit is your imagination!
    

5. Get ahead
   Now is the time to get ahead of the game with things like your online content creation. Record videos, create images, posts, blog articles, find funny quotes, even run an online workshop or virtual tour. Now is the time to do all those things you said you would love to do if only you had the time!
   

6. Refresh your brand
   Sometimes when we are busy and reactive, we end up following our nose, and somewhere along the line we forget what our original vision for our business’s ‘personality’ was. Ideally, a business’s logo, website, marketing, premises, customer service and more all speak the same congruent language. Maybe these could do with a small re-alignment, or perhaps you would like to do a complete rebrand overhaul. Now is a really good time!
   

7. Connect with your network
   At times like these its easy to forget we are not alone. There are many other small businesses who are all in the same boat as you. Now is a very important time to reach out, network, connect, support and collaborate with each other in the wholesale industry. If you are a retailer, get in touch with other retailers to ask how they are handling things. And don’t lose touch with suppliers either. In time of hardship there are often great opportunities sprouting. If you are a wholesaler, now is not the time to stop talking to retailers. If we all band together as an industry we will recover more quickly and stronger than before. We are all in this together.

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The perfect Covid shut-down outfit from Indirectory Brand Jade + May