The Small Business Care Package

1. The Small (and Large) Business Care Package https://blacksheepdigital.ca/

2. Take the lead and navigate your business through the COVID-19 crisis. We hope that first and foremost that you and your loved ones stay safe, fit, and healthy. These are truly unprecedented times where everyone needs to come together and help one another. As business owners ourselves we realize the threat that COVID-19 presents to all types of businesses. Many businesses may never recover from this but we hope that the information included in this package will help you navigate the situation and come out on top when the dust settles.  Given that each company has its own way of dealing with business disruption and degree of preparedness to react to these situations we should take a moment to evaluate whether these 3 actionable steps have been implemented. Before we get to these 3 steps make sure that the needs of your employees are met. You should anticipate and create an information hub that your employees can access to find all of the requisite information they will need during this time.

3. 1. Keep yourself and your employees informed Stay up to date with the latest developments from official sources such as government sources and the World Health Organization. Doing so will allow you to make nimble changes to your business while also keeping your customers informed. Try and update yourself on a daily basis! New events are unfolding every hour and each day presents us with another set of challenges. For example, what we initially thought of COVID 19 being contained to one part of china drastically changed in a matter of days.Creating and sharing a regularly updated set of facts and implications with your employees can be invaluable. Time is precious and wasting it on the deliberation of what is true and what’s not doesn’t prove helpful to anyone. As you absorb news daily take the time to assess the validity of the source before acting on it.

4. 2. Stay in touch with your customers Are you utilizing every available platform to keep your customers informed? Leverage every single social media platform your business has a presence on. You can reach out via email, Facebook, or Instagram. These are all free and immediate ways to inform customers of any changes to your business, your hours, or the measures you are taking to keep your premises safe.  Is your business able to provide a service to its customer base through live-streamed events on Facebook or Instagram? Get creative with the ways you can keep your business engaged with its customer base.

5. 3. Prepare a standardized procedure for customer service Time is of the essence.Quick response and transparency with customers are essential during these trying times. There is no doubt going to be a lot of confusion so be prepared to handle an influx of inquiries and requests. Extending another line of communication with your customers will mean the world to them. Consider setting up your email for auto-responding to inbound messages or set up a new Frequently Asked Question page on your website/social media profiles that will speak towards your customer’s concerns. Post this up everywhere, it does not matter if it’s redundant – use every channel of communication that you have. Incorporating these measures will pay huge dividends in ensuring your business operates at maximum efficiency while also providing transparency and a sense of calmness amongst your customer base. Once you have these measures in place you can begin to look towards incorporating these measures that take into account the future of your business.

6. BE RESILIENT. What does that mean? The ability to adapt and survive through unpredictable conditions and facing unfavourable events. All too often the emphasis is put on business efficiency, without a second thought to overcoming unforeseen problems. We as business owners need to be prepared to handle the inevitable changes in the world. Take note of these attributes when reflecting on crisis response. ModularityHighly integrated systems are efficient, very efficient… but when a wrench in the plans affects this sort of system it completely collapses. There is no room for error. In contrast, a system that can work interchangeably, or combined in different ways can offer greater resiliency to disruptive events. What can you do in your business to increase modularity? EvolvabilityInternal systems can be built to fulfill many different purposes. Most commonly they are in some way built towards reaching peak efficiency or optimization. What they should really be built for is evolvability – relentless improvement in light of new opportunities, problems, or information. While most learning will be done in retrospect this time around, you can still make improvements now – see what works and build upon those results.EmbeddednessRarely are business alone in their industry. If you think you are – look at your supply chain, your stakeholders, and your ecosystem as a whole. Solving problems for your own company is great in the short term, but if your industry partners are left behind it will be detrimental in the long term.Food For Thought: If your business is able, let it be part of the solution. If you have the means to contribute and support others in terms of the supply chain, industry, or at the community level – join in. Helping in a time of adversity creates trust and lasting goodwill.As bleak as it sounds, be prepared for the next crisis. Be resilient. COVID-19 is not going to be the last of world pandemics. Preparing for the next crisis – or the next phase of the crisis will be much more effective than a reactive response. Sometimes we forget how fragile our society actually is – we should be better prepared for when a global crisis hits and not get caught in a state of frenzy and panic. What does that mean? The ability to adapt and survive through unpredictable conditions and facing unfavourable events. All too often the emphasis is put on business efficiency, without a second thought to overcoming unforeseen problems. We as business owners need to be prepared to handle the inevitable changes in the world. Take note of these attributes when reflecting on crisis response. ModularityHighly integrated systems are efficient, very efficient… but when a wrench in the plans affects this sort of system it completely collapses. There is no room for error. In contrast, a system that can work interchangeably, or combined in different ways can offer greater resiliency to disruptive events. What can you do in your business to increase modularity? EvolvabilityInternal systems can be built to fulfill many different purposes. Most commonly they are in some way built towards reaching peak efficiency or optimization. What they should really be built for is evolvability – relentless improvement in light of new opportunities, problems, or information. While most learning will be done in retrospect this time around, you can still make improvements now – see what works and build upon those results.EmbeddednessRarely are business alone in their industry. If you think you are – look at your supply chain, your stakeholders, and your ecosystem as a whole. Solving problems for your own company is great in the short term, but if your industry partners are left behind it will be detrimental in the long term.Food For Thought: If your business is able, let it be part of the solution. If you have the means to contribute and support others in terms of the supply chain, industry, or at the community level – join in. Helping in a time of adversity creates trust and lasting goodwill.As bleak as it sounds, be prepared for the next crisis. Be resilient. COVID-19 is not going to be the last of world pandemics. Preparing for the next crisis – or the next phase of the crisis will be much more effective than a reactive response. Sometimes we forget how fragile our society actually is – we should be better prepared for when a global crisis hits and not get caught in a state of frenzy and panic. • What's next for your business?

7. That is a great question. You should take the time now to address any issues or projects that you have always wanted to start or solve but could never find the time. It is so important that you do this now because when this is all over the way society functions and interacts will never be the same. How do you think society will be conducting most of its shopping after all of this? How many times have you heard remote in a sentence lately? This pandemic will define the transition to online advertising and e-commerce whether you like it or not. The writing on the wall to adopt these changes is staring you straight in the face… are you finally ready to get your business ahead of the pack? Two of the most frequently neglected projects we see from business owners are delaying the transition to digital marketing and the development of an e-commerce platform for online fulfillment (remember resiliency?). If your business is in a position to leverage the circumstances at hand this is actually the BEST time to start growing your business online. Many businesses aren’t thinking strategically of how to turn these unfavorable events around and make it work in their favour. People are afraid (rightfully so) and they are afraid to spend money. This is mirrored in the digital marketing space right now. Everyone is pulling back their advertising budgets because they are afraid. So what does this mean for everyone else who is staying the course? Simple. More bang for your buck. Your advertising dollars are never going to be more effective than right now. There has never been a more important time for your business to start marketing and get ahead of the pack. The cost to reach thousands of people through marketing platforms such as Facebook is dropping dramatically. On a global scale, fewer businesses are spending money on advertisement meaning the competition is dropping. This is leaving a large chunk of ad space unclaimed.  Think of the current circumstances, more users are spending more time at home on their phones flicking through their feed to stay up to date or just plained bored quarantined at home and on social media. There are more Facebook daily users but fewer people spending money on advertisements, which means that drives the price of advertisement down. It is going to cost less money to reach more people and obtain lower costs per purchase. In the near future when the dust settles… And it will… if you want to hit these low marketing costs and get a head start on your competition you need to get your digital marketing plan in order yesterday. Cause when that time comes and world goes back to normal you need to hit the ground running. That is a great question. You should take the time now to address any issues or projects that you have always wanted to start or solve but could never find the time. It is so important that you do this now because when this is all over the way society functions and interacts will never be the same. How do you think society will be conducting most of its shopping after all of this? How many times have you heard remote in a sentence lately? This pandemic will define the transition to online advertising and e-commerce whether you like it or not. The writing on the wall to adopt these changes is staring you straight in the face… are you finally ready to get your business ahead of the pack? Two of the most frequently neglected projects we see from business owners are delaying the transition to digital marketing and the development of an e-commerce platform for online fulfillment (remember resiliency?). If your business is in a position to leverage the circumstances at hand this is actually the BEST time to start growing your business online. Many businesses aren’t thinking strategically of how to turn these unfavorable events around and make it work in their favour. People are afraid (rightfully so) and they are afraid to spend money. This is mirrored in the digital marketing space right now. Everyone is pulling back their advertising budgets because they are afraid. So what does this mean for everyone else who is staying the course? Simple. More bang for your buck. Your advertising dollars are never going to be more effective than right now. There has never been a more important time for your business to start marketing and get ahead of the pack. The cost to reach thousands of people through marketing platforms such as Facebook is dropping dramatically. On a global scale, fewer businesses are spending money on advertisement meaning the competition is dropping. This is leaving a large chunk of ad space unclaimed.  Think of the current circumstances, more users are spending more time at home on their phones flicking through their feed to stay up to date or just plained bored quarantined at home and on social media. There are more Facebook daily users but fewer people spending money on advertisements, which means that drives the price of advertisement down. It is going to cost less money to reach more people and obtain lower costs per purchase. In the near future when the dust settles… And it will… if you want to hit these low marketing costs and get a head start on your competition you need to get your digital marketing plan in order yesterday. Cause when that time comes and world goes back to normal you need to hit the ground running. • What else can I do for my business right now?

8. If you have any questions feel free to reach out to us and we would be more than happy to help. Stay Safe! The Marketing Agency In Vancouver