In Digital Marketing
For small business owners, I think that digital communication tools were a nice to have and even considered cutting edge before the pandemic. Now, they are a necessity.
Vice President of Inside Sales
The first thing is having a strategy. So, I know it sounds really obvious, but what we found from a lot of our customers is that they haven't taken the time to sit down and think about the new normal.
How is their consumer shopping now? For some businesses, it's online shopping. It's an absolute necessity to make sure they can order online and have something delivered.
For some companies, it may be a chat service that has some kind of artificial intelligence that can respond to customer's requests immediately. For other businesses, it could be video.
Depending on your industry, that's going to dictate what type of tools are gonna be best for your consumer.
Consumer journey
The consumer journey is not going to go back to the way it used to be, chat, for instance, or text messaging, now that they've experienced all these conveniences. They wanted that convenience beforehand, and now they're demanding it.
A lot of consumers are just as confused as business owners are right now. You need to overcommunicate your hours of operation. Make sure that they know that you're open.
Use the tools to even put the most basic things out there. "Here's our address, we're still open. Don't worry, we're requiring that you wear a mask" and all of the things to let them know that they're safe, but you are open.
This is the new normal
This is the new consumer journey, because they've already expected digital communication before, and they are going to naturally go with the companies who've adapted to it, who make their consumer experience easier.
Don't be in the mindset of if I could just get through this, then it's gonna go back to six months ago. Stay positive, and keep innovating, and keep taking calculated risks, because you're good at it. That's why you are who you are.