Nearly 100,000 establishments that temporarily shut down in light of COVID-19 are now out of business. Without a post-COVID-19 business recovery strategy, your company will struggle.
You can develop a plan to set your team up for success.
Not sure where to start? Here are the five tips you need to create an effective business strategy. With a plan and proper leadership development, you won’t have to worry.
Instead, you can build your plan to recover from COVID and discover new ways to grow your business.
Set your team up for success with these five simple tips today!
1. Prepare for the future
COVID-19 required many businesses to navigate unfamiliar terrain. To avoid pitfalls in the future, it helps to brace yourself for potential issues.
It’s likely that future outbreaks will remain confined to smaller areas. Most governments are better equipped to respond to outbreaks now, too. It still helps to prepare yourself for potential problems.
Learn from the past two years. How did your business react to the outbreak?
What mistakes did you make? What choices put you ahead of the competition?
Consider how you responded to your customers’ needs, too. How did you help them in light of the outbreak?
Consider sending your customers a survey. Learn from their experience. What did they like or not like about the changes you made?
A survey can help you gather helpful insights. You can then develop a response plan using the information you gather. That way, you’re not making assumptions as you plan for the future.
Find ways to strengthen your team, too. For example, you might want to consider business coaching. Coaching can offer leadership development, equipping you to help your team in future emergencies.
You can improve your entrepreneurship mindset to find new opportunities for the upcoming year.
Look at your original start-up strategy.
What were your original goals ? How can you accomplish your goals this year? Establish your objectives and key results (OKRs), too.
Goal-setting will help you measure your results.
Then, you can make adjustments to your plans to ensure you’re on track.
2. Scrutinize changes
It helps to get back to basics. Create a SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats) analysis for your company. What changes helped you find new opportunities? What threats are still impacting your business plans?
Scrutinizing the changes you experienced will help inform your business strategy.
Which changes are permanent? You might find that most of the changes you made were only temporary. These changes were driven by government interventions, rather than customer needs or wants.
What changes did you experience that impacted your daily operations? For example, more people have shifted from offline to online channels. Did you adopt new technologies to improve your daily operations?
Did you experience a drop in demand? How did you and the team respond to these changes?
Take the time to consider your target audience and their behaviors. Understanding customer behaviors will help you make informed decisions. You can determine which changes are temporary based on changes in behavior.
Are you practising the 7 Questions as strategic discipline? Learn to use the quarterly rhtyhm to refine, adapt and deliver continous improvement.
Then, you can set your business up for success by learning how to respond to future changes.
3. Determine what changes are lasting
Which changes have you made in light of COVID-19 that you’ll continue to adopt this year? Again, these changes can vary depending on customer behaviors.
Determine which changes improved the user experience. Those are changes you’ll likely need to keep.
For example, have you started using videoconferencing? Are you now offering free deliveries? Do you now require masks and social distancing at your stores?
Understand which changes are permanent will help you determine how to better use your budget.
With the changes that have become permenant, have you documented the ‘how tos’ in your knowledgebase or learning management system?
Remember, lasting organization change happens when we turn new skills into systems and then build new skills on top of those systems.
4. Ask the right questions
As you develop your post-COVId business strategy, it helps to ask the right questions.
For example, can you transition between changes faster than your competitors? How?
What does your ideal customer value? What perceptions do you need to change or build?
What consumer behavior changes can you anticipate? Which changes are driven by the user experience? What about changes that are driven by fear or government regulations?
If you have not tried Waymaker.io yet – check it out. Asking and answering the right questions will help you lead your recovery.
Look for ways you can help your team, too. For example, how will you improve your work conditions? How will you keep your team safe?
You might need to help your team remain more flexible regarding hours.
Don’t forget to review your budget. Find ways to cut costs while making smarter investments. You can adopt new technologies to improve your operations as well.
5. Develop your marketing strategy
Nearly 70% of businesses are struggling to generate website traffic and leads. It’s important to develop a fresh online advertising and marketing strategy for your business.
Here are the tips you need to develop the best digital marketing strategy for your business post-COVID.
Know your audience
First, learn as much as you can about your current customers. Which customers stayed in light of the COVID outbreak? Why did they stay?
Find ways to make your current customers’ lives easier. For example, you might want to consider offering discounts or premium software features with your free version. Though you’ll notice changes in free trial signups, your customers will thank you for it.
You’ll have an easier time retaining current customers as a result.
Mature your CX strategy
Make sure you’re using your skills and systems across your customer experience platform (sales, marketing, service) to reach your customers. For example, you can use:
- Email drip campaigns
- Search engine optimization
- Chatbots
- Online advertising (social media and search engine ads)
Keep up-to-date with the latest marketing and e-commerce trends, too. Keeping up with the trends will help you discover new opportunities.
With marketing leadership, you can stand out from competitors and draw in new customers. Online marketing will expand your reach and visibility, too.
Offer exclusives
Try offering exclusive deals and offers online. Use online advertising to announce your new promotions.
Freebies and discounts can help you incentivize customers to choose your business.
Consider your communications
Make sure you continue connecting with your customers. For example, you can use blogging to keep customers informed about company changes. Don’t forget social media, emails, webinars, and videos as well.
Use a content calendar to keep your audience engaged.
Setting for success: 5 tips for creating a post-COVID business strategy
Don’t let COVID impact your companies success. Instead, develop a post-COVID business strategy using these tips. With this guide, you can avoid pitfalls in the future.
Set your business up for success.
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