Most Effective Small Business Advertising During COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic brought in a lot of different challenges, especially for businesses. Many of them had to close, and those that are not closed yet have very low traffic and few clients in between. Since the lockdowns will pass eventually, it’s very important to make sure that we focus on small business marketing. This will help spread the word for your business and bring in more leads and customers in the long run. But what can you do in order to implement the right marketing ideas during the pandemic, no matter if you are a part of print advertising or any other industry?

Creative Advertising

A good way to promote your business right now is to use creative advertising. The #StayAtHome creative ads will help you showcase your company’s ideas while also bringing in a way for people to either stay informed or laugh, based on the situation. You can encourage people to focus more on hygiene and use a hand sanitizer, for example, while also coming with all kinds of simple ideas you can use on a day to day basis. The idea is to adapt and implement new features that really work and which bring in creative benefits.

Including things like social distancing, self-delivery, wearing a mask, and so on will show that you care about your clients, and you are offering them the information they need and the services they require.

Establish a Social Campaign

The COVID-19 pandemic definitely brought in a lot of challenges to many people in very specific fields like doctors, nurses, firefighters, and so on. This is a great time to create social initiatives through which you encourage people to support frontline workers or local communities. You can start volunteering, help seniors, donate for various causes, and so on. It helps your business, and it also shows that you care about the community. That will make your business easier to relate to, and the results can be great.

Free Access to Paid Content

A lot of companies started to offer free access to paid content recently. This is an interesting approach, and they do a very good job with that. The main focus is to show customers that you care about them. It can be one of the most effective small business advertising ideas. People love free content, especially if they can get paid content for free. A lot of companies already started offering freebies, such as National Geographic, Harvard, Netflix, HBO, Apple TV Plus, even the Museum of Modern Art has a set of free online courses.

Why should you use this strategy? It really works; it offers brand recognition, it brings in more brand engagement, and on top of that, it’s a great source for word of mouth. Plus, you can generate publicity and media coverage, offering people the value and support you need during these trying and challenging times.

Create Online Experiences

Due to the pandemic, people have to stay at home, and that means you need to offer them some ways to enjoy their time indoors. That also means focusing on all kinds of online experiences. For example, the Faroe Islands created a tourism remote control that you can use to explore the locations live if you want. Or you can have an online session via Zoom and other tools where you talk with one another and focus on bringing in a very rewarding and powerful user experience. If you’re an offline-only service provider, you need to do whatever you can to enter the online world, and the experience itself can be a great one every time.

Email Marketing

Another great method you can use to connect with people during the pandemic is definitely email marketing. What this does is it allows you to share alerts related to the COVID-19 situation, but also things like being in it together or offering access to the free content available online. You want people to have a reason to sign up for your email newsletter, and this certainly seems like a good idea to focus on. You can also share plans for the future or a source of entertainment, whatever you can in order to show people the value you have and the quality being brought to the table.

Entertain People

Find a way to entertain people if you can. Sharing some fun self-isolation stories and creating all kinds of challenges or contests on social media will come in handy. It’s also a really good idea to prioritize the user-generated content. It will boost user engagement rates, and people will be happy this way too. You can also create live streaming sessions and offer entertaining resources for free or establish online events. Again, the main focus is to connect with everyone to show that you are there for them and that you are bringing all the support you can.

Harness the Power of Paid Ads

Why would you do that? A lot of businesses were closed, so the ad costs are cheaper than before. It definitely makes a lot of sense to promote your business now. Even if people don’t buy right away, they will take notice of your company and buy once the pandemic is over. So yes, this is money well spent if you know how to do it wisely. Use that to your own advantage, and you will find the outcome to be rather interesting and unique at the same time. Just remember that the most important thing is quality and bringing in the best approach to grow your business.

Conclusion

It’s very important to show your support and boost your engagement rates with clients and leads. These are trying times, so offering as much help as possible can really make a huge difference. At the end of the day, what really matters is to understand what challenges are now on the market and how you can deal with them in a proper manner. Try to use these tips and tricks, adapt them to your local audience, and you will start seeing results early on!