Life is full of crises, let alone business life. Yet somehow, whenever we find ourselves in an emergency, at first we tend to panic or freeze. As a business owner, I know how frightening these Covid19 days can be. Yet my experience taught me that opportunities lie in all sorts of unexpected places – crises being one of them.

So to cheer you up – and help you find the silver lining of this dark cloud – I decided to reach out directly and share my thoughts with you. I believe that there are two essential things every business owner needs to do right now: strengthen the relationship with customers and build a smart marketing strategy for the long run.

 

First Step: Strengthen Your Relationship With Your Customers

During the next few months, your business – much like everyone else’s – is going to change drastically. Waiting periods will become more extended, different supplies are missing or delayed and “brick businesses” (shops, factories and other offline businesses) are forced to quickly go online or enhance their existing online presence. Everything is happening rapidly, and things seem crazy.

Still, I believe that especially now it’s important to remember one thing: your customers want to buy your service or product. They choose to do so specifically from YOU – thanks to YOUR distinctive business DNA. That’s why your relationship with them is so important, and communication becomes vital. Luckily, there are many ways to keep in touch with your customers, whether by a transactional SMS campaign (with messages regarding opening hours, logistics, etc.), an email campaign with content that has some added value, or a combination of both.

In these uncertain times, try to create some certainty – at least about what’s going on in your business. Not only will they appreciate it, it’ll also remind them you’re still here for them. Remember: your clients don’t expect anything right now, so any service you keep on providing is a huge bonus.

 

Second Step: Use Your Spare Time to Plan Your Marketing Strategy

 

All of us, all over the world, “won” some unwanted spare time. Given that we can’t do anything about it – why not treat it as a huge opportunity? Instead of wasting your precious time, use it to re-write your marketing plan and business strategy. I highly recommend thinking about the situation as a long-term opportunity that can take you from offline to online or from a mediocre to a top-notch digital presence. Who knows? Maybe you’ll discover that’s exactly what you and your clientele needed, or that you actually like working online or that you are more profitable online.

In any case, now you have a golden opportunity to re-define your target audiences, clean up your lists, create dynamic groups, create advanced segmentations and more. This way you’ll know you’re reaching out to your audience in a very relevant and personal style. For instance, you can create a dynamic group (a group that is automatically updated based on your set criteria) for customers who are interested in a specific product or create a group for clients based on their gender or location.

Next, you can use this time to learn more about your clientele, and more specifically – their needs and wants. Use our surveys to figure out what your clients think about your brand and how you can elevate your products and services. This time is the perfect opportunity to collect valuable business insights and implement them into your marketing strategy – so make sure you make the most of it.

Finally, if you want to make the most of your time at home, now is the time to learn how to apply time and money saving practices to your day-to-day marketing routine. Our advanced automation tools are made to do just that; they are a powerful feature, created to help you turn leads into paying customers in an automatic – almost seamless way – based on user behavior. Here’s an example: let’s say you have an online store, and you want to give a special offer to potential clients who abandoned their cart in your online store. Using our automations and seamless integrations to all major e-commerce platforms, you can do just that. Furthermore, you can create an automation that is designed to “revive” inactive clients using special deals and discounts. Implementing automations into your account is not an easy task, but it’s a one-time effort and well worthwhile – I promise you. If you need help learning how to do so, go to our learning center or contact our incredible support team who are hard at work – now more than ever.

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True, times are rough for all of us, but I firmly believe that a little patience – and a bit of optimism – goes a long way. All of us at ActiveTrail are working hard for you, especially now, so you are more than welcome to contact us for any problem or issue that may occur.

Stay home, stay safe, and please – stay optimistic!

Sincerely,

Naor Man, CEO