Get ready for the future with post-lockdown marketing

It’s been a tough time for many businesses – and even those least affected will be finding the market environment has changed. Sometimes these changes are very evident, sometimes subtle and insidious.

Aside from the obvious problems, new opportunities may present themselves, and certainly, new ways of working. So, here are our 7 post-lockdown marketing thoughts – things to bear in mind as we get our businesses rolling again.

1. Be visible

It’s been tricky maintaining a profile with all the restrictions. And it’s too easy to forget the importance of awareness. So now is the time to make sure that you are on clients’ radar.

Get your social media working. Email all your subscribers. It may be time to consider making a splash – how about a post-lockdown offer?

2. Review your client base

How has their business changed – and how is that likely to impact upon you?

Do you need to look again at your target markets – are there opportunities to provide new services or help customers in getting back on their feet?

Will you need to find new business, and if so, what will those targets look like? If you use personas in your marketing strategies, do you need to revise them for new climate? If necessary, write a new description of your ideal, post-lockdown client or customer.

Will you need to review your terms of business and clients’ credit status?

3. Review your offer

Is your business offer still relevant for these changed times? Look at it in terms of your client base as discussed above. Will there be opportunities to offer new and more profitable products or services? Or, perhaps it may be an opportunity to slim down your offering.

Take a good look at your competitors. What changes might they make to their offer? Will you need to act defensively or might there be new opportunities? Note what options you have.

If you wrote down your offer – your value proposition – sometime before lockdown, take a fresh look at it, and if necessary, rewrite it in light of how you now see the future.

4. Check your objective

It could well be that your marketing objective hasn’t changed. But for some of us, who may have just been in survival mode for the past few months, the overall objective may be significantly different.

Is it a time for growth, or should we work on strengthening the brand? Should we concentrate on awareness, or build loyalty and develop advocates?

You could do worse than to look again at the old SMART objective – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Time based. Which of those have now changed for you, and how.?

5. Plan your marketing options

This is all about directions. Now is the ideal time to consider your possible directions – and to put all options on the table.

It’s a good idea to write down all possible options, then for each write the ‘for‘ and ‘against‘. Finally, note for each what action you decide to take. Many options you may just discard, one or two may be great directions that deserve exploring for immediate action. Others may look useful for a few months time, and some may be able to be combined for effectiveness.

6. Reflect on what you’ve learned

All experience is useful, and the past few months is no exception. You may have discovered resources you didn’t expect. Perhaps clients or suppliers your relied upon were found wanting.  How did your supply chain stand up? Which staff surprised you and which disappointed?

Many businesses embraced technology to achieve new results – can these be developed further? Others questioned their old working practices and identified significant potential cost savings.

We’ve all breathed a sigh of relief as restrictions began to lift. But spare some time to note the good learnings and see how these can be applied to future practices.

Also consider how resilient your business model proved to be, and what marketing actions you can take to protect its future.

7. Set marketing budgets

Some businesses may have come through with revenues and reserves still strong, while others may now be severely constrained.

Marketing will be vital to emerge competitive and profitable in an uncertain and possibly hostile economic environment. It’s a time to pay close attention financial decisions and that means setting realistic budgets.

Those figures must start with what you need to achieve – and importantly – by when. It’s not a matter of screwing down all expenditure. It’s about calculating just what is necessary to get you where you want to be. Keep a clear measure of return on investment and monitor it carefully.  Try to keep returns as closely in step with expenditure, as cashflow will be critical.

Setting budgets may seem like a chore, but in tight financial times they will help control costs – but allow you to grow.

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While many of us were self-isolating and working at home, it was only natural to dwell on the gloomy business environment. We’ve been working to mitigate damage, and concentrate on survival strategies. However, it’s now important to also put some time aside to consider our vision of the future.

When these dark times have passed – and they surely will – our business world will certainly be a very different place.  So it may be prudent to do a bit of crystal gazing and assemble a view of a changed environment, and the impact events have had, and may continue to have on our businesses.

I’ve been mulling over a number of topics and pursued an unscientific, and random  view through my subjective telescope.

Sectors.

Some sectors have been seriously hit, almost terminally in many cases. Are these market segments where your business operates? To what extent are these expected to recover – how resilient are they? Will they have shrunk in value or volume.

Importantly, how might you need to react – will you need to change your customer emphasis or sales targeting. Is it time to embrace a whole new business model – do you see fresh opportunities in traditional sectors?

Transport, accommodation, and hospitality

If we consider just some examples we can see how the landscape has radically altered.

Travel-based enterprises have suffered heavily. Transport, accommodation, and hospitality are virtually in cold storage at the moment. However signs of thawing are visible. Sadly we can expect to see some notable failures and probably a very different mix amongst the survivors. It may be time to review some outsiders securing strong positions in the new brandscapes.

Virtual communications

Interestingly, one facet of that sector where we may see some significant re-shaping is the conference market. People I have spoken to in the training and coaching professions have continued to deliver, but have moved quickly to online channels with video meetings and webinars etc. Those who are the most technophobic seem pleasantly surprised how painless the process has been.  Even as we emerge from this crisis, it’s likely delivery providers will also consider the economic advantages of delivering workshops without venue costs or transport expenses. This may be a paradigm shift which will re-model the way these businesses operate for the future.

Cash

Some businesses, particularly those in the retail sector, had no option but to simply shut down or mothball their businesses. Which of those do we expect to survive?  Will this further change the picture of our high streets? It inevitably makes many question whether a high street presence is necessary for their businesses.

The growth of online operation has already been remodeling service sectors such as estate agency. Are these businesses further re-thinking their business models, and what will they look like?

For those shutting down or mothballing, obviously their first concern was cash. However, as soon as we lift the restrictions, there is likely to be a serious cash gap where they will need to begin trading, but lack the liquidity to pay staff or suppliers.

Supply chains

For many businesses, their problems have been exacerbated by supply chain difficulties. Will companies now be revising their chains. Will a need for resilience lead to a return to more vertical integration and control?

More random thoughts

And finally will business dress codes change? As people observe company directors and business leaders operating efficiently on video calls wearing sweaters, t-shirts and hoodies, might this signal the demise of the business suit?

What’s your vision?