How can business survive the harsh reality of COVID-19? Is such a thing even possible? This is the question on so many peoples mind, especially one who own a business.
Background – Business vs COVID-19
The Corona virus pandemic, more commonly known as COVID-19 today, has taken the world by storm. Governments around the world are in dire economic crisis and businesses are struggling to stay afloat. As a result, millions of people are losing their jobs and many are barely making ends meet to put food on the table. However, you most probably already know this so why am I telling you all this?
I don’t know if you have realized yet or not, but we all are connected to each other in some way. By “we all” I mean the employees, the businesses, the government, the farmers, factories and so on. While some are feeling the full brunt of the crisis, there are some that are not adversely affected but nonetheless everyone will be affected to some extent in the long run. To truly understand the impact this devastating event, we must reach far and see the long term effects. Before we shine a light on the long term effects, let us first try to understand the main cause of devastation.
Without doubt the hardest thing to deal with during this pandemic is the loss of lives. Nothing will ever hurt more than the the loss of a loved one. However, the spread of virus which leads to this loss is an issue of lifestyle choices and vaccinations. It is important to note that we can control both of them. For example, wearing a mask and maintaining social distancing can stop the virus well in its tracks. Taking the vaccination prepares your immune system ensuring that you are less prone to develop the illness and its consequences as stated by WHO. These are some of the things we can control and we should control. However, my main objective here is to highlight that the long term effects of this pandemic caused by the damages taken by businesses today.
Businesses, whether micro, medium or large, all plan an important role in the growth and survival of an economy. It is the damage caused to these businesses that will affect everyone in the long run. These businesses keep governments healthy with handsome tax money and they also ensure that people are able to meet their needs and thrive by providing them employment. While it is fair to say that some businesses are affected more severely than others, it is still important to note that the damage caused to many, especially the ones severely affected, will take some time to repair. It is not a open and shut case where life will spring into a state of normality as soon as COVID is tamed. I am not saying it will not happen, in fact I can assure you that things will get back to normal sooner or later. Humanity has tackled much worse with much less in the past. The Spanish flu took the lives of around 50 million people in 1918 while the Hong Kong Flu and the Asian flu took millions more. This was a time when technology and resources were limited and yet these deadly pandemics were defeated. What I am saying is that that road to normality will take some time.
The Long-term Effects
It is important that we recognize the long-term effects of COVID on businesses and start devising plans to repair those damages as soon as possible. The major impact of COVID will be on the growth of business house’s as the rapid decline in income will not be replaced by an equally rapid increase after the crisis. It will take some time for businesses to get back to the normal and operate with the same number of employees and invest in the same level of resources. Without delving further at this issue, which I promise will be discussed in detail in my future blog posts, let us try to look at how businesses get back up quickly and effectively with the use of technology.
Technology with Business
This is the digital age that we live in and that is one of our greatest tools. Technology has made things possible that people would not have dreamed of in the past. It is time for us to make correct use of this technology and improve our future and the future of our kids. I say technology is a tool because it has given us a platform that is independent and resilient. Take for example Amazon which is a online shopping site that has redefined the way people buy. The amazing platform of online shopping first introduced by the Amazon has changed the whole landscape for businesses and customers. It allows customers to shop from the comfort of their homes without any time restrictions and without any physical contact at all. Businesses on the other had do not need expensive store fronts or service each customer physically. Needless to say that online shopping using an eCommerce website or a mobile application will be the best way forward for many businesses as there is limited to no human interaction. Online platforms like these have redefined and in some instances even beaten traditional brick and mortar business models. Some other examples of technology usage in business would be use of online banking for businesses, use of digital wallets to make payments such as M-Paisa, virtual teaching with the use of video conferencing software’s such as Zoom , Skype, and Google Meet, the use of eBooks to learn, the use of online booking and consultancy applications by trainers and there are hundreds more software tools that we can use. We have come to a stage where there is technology to do almost everything. I kid you not, there is a software help almost any business online. If you cant find an application for your specific needs, then drop us a message and maybe my team can help.
“However, I will be honest with you unlike many online marketer out there promising you that success is sitting on silver spoon waiting for you to pick it up. I can tell you right no that that is not the case and success in an online business come from hard work.”
We need to start incorporating and and creating new opportunities for those businesses that have been or will be severely affected by this pandemic. The only reason we can start doing this right away is because we have technology on our side. Technology can create new opportunities for existing businesses and rapidly improve the financial status of a business. However, I will be honest with you unlike many online marketers out there promising you that success is sitting on silver spoon waiting for you to pick it up. I can tell you right now that that is not the case and success in an online business comes only from hard work.
It is difficult to directly relate success of an online business to relevant marketing strategies. The internet is a vast place and marketing in it takes many forms such as social media marketing, Search Engine Optimization(SEO), Video blogs or more commonly known as VLOGS, blogs and many more. It is normal execute multiple marketing strategies simultaneously and because of this it becomes difficult to connect a sale to a particular marketing strategy. This is what makes assessing the performance or a online marketing strategy complicated. However, there are strategies such as using surveys, running A/B tests, and others to gauge the effectiveness of a particular marketing strategy. Now that is a discussion for another day and the only reason I was telling you this was to show you that marketing any online business is hard work, so hard that many people abandon the idea of going online. In fact, 90% of people fail starting an online business because they lose their patience. The 10% that do succeed do it with a lot of hard work.
Key Ingredients for Success
Running any online business is hard and probably the hardest aspect to it all is Marketing. I will not sit here and promise you a marketing strategy that will make your life easier and increase your chances of success. I will not do that because such a thing does not exist. What I will do is give you the key ingredients to needed for the success of any online business. These ingredient are:
1. Trust – Trust is probably the most important ingredient of all as without trust you are likely to not make a single sale. The idea is to to show your potential customers, whoever they may be you know best, that you really care. You can show how much you care by offering free content, access to valuable blog contents, give them a free video or so on. It is best to start selling only after you have gained the trust of people and going any other way will probably give you “nada” in sales. I would always recommend that you should not even think about selling until you have your customers trust.
2. Build a Website – Just like a traditional business requires a storefront to operate, an online business requires website as the base of of its operations. A website provides a platform for you to:
– catalog your products,
– connect with your customers,
– run marketing campaigns,
– showcase your brand and portfolio and so much more.
Getting a website up and running is not costly. With cheap hosting plans from companies like Hostinger, You will be able to host you website for pennies on a dollar and that too with great speed and security.
Again building websites have become quite easy with tools such as WordPress coupled with pre-built templates from the Envato Market. There are many other user friendly tools out there but I would not recommend many them because while they may be easier to use, they become costly to host and maintain overtime. In addition, many website builders lack the flexibility that WordPress offers. There are other platforms that do offer flexibility like ASP.NET from Microsoft that is an amazing website builder but it has a steep learning curve and requires extensive programming knowledge.
3. Sound Digital Marketing Strategies – Digital marketing comes in many forms but the most common ones are SEO, social media advertising, and video advertising. The most widely used platforms are Google, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram and Twitter. Now running a digital marketing campaign requires thorough understanding of target markets and expert level skills to creating marketing content. It is never a bad idea hire an experienced digital marketing professions to get you work done if you are not confident in doing it yourself. Experience will help you avoid costly mistakes that could increase your marketing budget in the long run. Hiring the right people may be the key to your success in the long run.
4. An Original Idea – Part of the reason so many new online businesses fail is because they are trying to copy someone else’s business model. You have to understand that the other business has already penetrated the market and has gained the customers trust. You trying to get in the same business will mean that you have to spend truck loads of money in competitive marketing and as a result your margins will be crushed and you may end up losing money. You can do this if you have huge financial reserves which most startups do not have. It is best to build a business that is unique and offers something valuable to the people. I understand that it is difficult to come up with new ideas in a time when new ideas are coming up every second. So what you can do is do something similar to an existing business but make it your own. By this I mean give it that unique twist that makes your business model unique and at the same time better than the competition.
Conclusion
It is clear that COVID has is leaving huge devastation in its path and this devastation will probably have its footprint in everyone’s live for quite some time. Businesses have a key role to play in the healing process as their ability to innovate and adapt will determine the time it will take for things to get back to normal. Since the fight with COVID is still not over, it is vital that businesses utilize technology in their business models to get back up on their feet. Technology offers many unique benefits that not only can improve a business financially but can help ensure key requirements for battling COVID are met with ease.
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