Pivot Your Business to Online Quickly

I don’t need to discuss why you need to read this, so how about we move right past that bit and dive into the importance of pivoting your business and how to quickly establish an online presence…

1.       Set up a website quickly

I highly recommend Squarespace for most businesses. If you’re a service-based business, you can quickly set up a beautiful website that is SEO-friendly, mobile-optimised and is honestly really easy to use. If you’re a product-based business, Squarespace may still be the better option for you, but it will depend on the number of categories and products you have to sell. Alternatively, Shopify may suit better for product-based businesses.

 

To quickly set-up a beautifully designed website with Squarespace, you can install a Squarespace template from Jessica M Studio. She provides all the instructions and prompts you need to have your website live in a week. The templates start from $400AUD as well! If you’re pressed for time and know you don’t have the design skills, I strongly recommend installing one of these templates and making it easier for yourself!

 

2.       Set up your Google My Business

If you do not have one of these, they’re high priority. It will take 2-4 weeks to verify your business with Google, so jump onto this ASAP. Your Google My Business listing will display your business within the Google Maps for relevant searches (if you’re home-based, you can keep your address private don’t worry). By showing up for local searches you’re reaching more people who are actively searching for your offering.

 

If you already have a GMB listing, be sure to go on there and optimise it. By this I mean, ensure all of the information listed is correct, and in additional info where necessary. Also add in images, videos and write regular posts (2x month if possible) to continue building it up with fresh content. Google loves an up-to-date GMB listing. Also reach out to customers/clients to leave reviews on your listing, don’t hesitate or over think this. Simply reach out to customers and let them know it would be very helpful at this time if they could leave you a review on Google. Simples.

 

3.       Get your business in front of eyes

It can be a hard pill to swallow when times are tough and uncertain, but in order to continue driving business you need to have your business in front of potential customers. This may look different for every business, depending on location, industry, offering. But, whether it’s social media, FB Ads, Google Ads or remarketing – there is a way to promote your business to the right audience. Don’t shy away from it.

 

Especially with so many businesses decreasing their marketing spend, there’s less competition for certain paid ad spaces. By advertising, you’re ensuring you stay front of mind with customers. This helps to ensure that when we come out the other side you have maintained a strong in-market position with consumers and are on the front foot to continue growing.

 

4.       Provide a range of value

I don’t mean slashing prices or offering crazy special offers. Instead, think about how you can innovate and repackage your offerings to suit a range of circumstances. This may mean bundled or unbundled product packages, subscriptions or payment plans, offering the same services but virtually and even adding in additional value in the form of low-to-no cost add-ons (30min session, free digital product, discount code to promote another small business).

 

5.       Invest in a multi-channel marketing approach

Though this requires a larger investment of time to start with and can take longer to see results across all channels, it does set you up for success over the long term. While you have more capacity and things are quiet, it’s the perfect time to start implementing a new marketing strategy. One that encompasses multiple channels and doesn’t leave you reliant on just one for your business.

 

For a product business, such as skincare, an integrated strategy might involve Instagram, Facebook Ads and Pinterest. Whereas a service-based business, like a naturopath, may focus on SEO, FB Ads and Pinterest.

 

6.       Build up your content

Content rules every platform and channel. Without strong content, the rest of your efforts are only going to be mildly successful. Website copy supports your business and encourages conversions, website content supports SEO and encourages social linking, your Pinterest needs a content to funnel back to in order to increase conversions, social media growth is reliant on valuable content such as video.

 

Creating content when you’re managing a thriving business can be tough, but it is critical for long-term growth. Use this time to not only pivot your business, but to also create a longer-term strategy and rich library of content resources to be shared across different platforms.

Moving to an online business model can seem daunting an overwhelming, especially if it’s something you’ve looked into before. Investing in a snazzy website with a developer, making sure you have new, high-quality imagery and all the SEO boxes ticked.

But, right now, what you need is a website and business presence online. Perfection halts progress, and just remember you can perfect things down the track. Right now you need to focus on immediate solutions and getting your business found online.

If you have any questions about how to quickly shift online and increase your digital presence, reach out to me via email right now. I want to help as many business owners as possible to get through this crazy time!

Stay healthy, stay home, stay optimistic.

Lauren

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