COVID-19 really did a number on a lot of small businesses that we personally know, as well as small businesses around the world. It suddenly became a necessity to go digital and adapt to the way products and services were being consumed, or else you would go out of business. Not only did it put life into perspective for a lot of people, it also made us rethink how flexible our small businesses should be.

2020 was a big year for us, not just because of COVID-19, but also because it was the year we relaunched our business. Since MASK Solutions is a virtual business and all our employees work remotely, our work process wasn’t affected as much. We couldn’t meet our clients face to face anymore, but we could always use Zoom. 

We were able to take on new clients and complete projects as usual. We also created a new product, called the MASK Blueprint! 

A few things we learned about during 2020 might help you out with your small business, so here they are!

Before our relaunch, we made customer avatars to identify our ideal customers. This helped us curate our marketing messages to better suit the needs of our ideal customers. Before you launch (or relaunch) your company, this is an absolute must! Sit down with your team and create these customer persona and figure out their pain points. It’ll help you identify your brand voice, making marketing your products and services to them a breeze.

The time for going digital has arrived, and the best way to get ahead of your competitors is to find out what they’re doing right. With COVID-19, going digital became a necessity, so why are you still researching your competitors that have physical stores? Online is where it’s at! Try to figure out how well your competitors websites are doing SEO wise, traffic wise, and also just take a look at their website to see how they’ve marketed their products and designed the website. This will help you make your website even more efficient and unique. Look at your business from a new angle and see how you can take your business digital in a way that your competitors haven’t thought of yet.

A website isn’t the only way your business can go digital. With new features coming out on social media, like the Instagram shop feature, you can totally sell your products and services on social media! It’s all about approaching your audience the right way. Try not to be all salesy with your posts and copy, but also include tips, hacks and interesting information that your ideal customer might find useful. This helps you build on your brand’s reliability and credibility. The more engagement and awareness your social media profiles will have, the more people you can reach and hopefully, need your product or service!

Is your product still relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic?  Are you offering people something that they simply don’t need anymore? Take a step back to rethink what you are selling. Sit down with your team and get feedback on how you can expand or alter your business to keep up with your audience’s needs and trends.

Everyone loves free things and samples, whether it’s a free trial of your software, samples of baked goods or skincare products. If this was a profitable way for you to acquire new customers, then try to take it digital/contactless! Adapt to COVID-19 and set up a contactless stall outside your store to let people grab a goodie basket of samples of your products on their way about town, and if your product is great, they’ll be sure to come back as returning customers! 

If you’re offering a service, why not host an online free event/webinar for it, and acquire new customers that way? It’ll be a great cost-effective way to engage with them and showcase your services!

If you don’t already have one, then you don’t know how many hours you can save by not having to give details to potential customers again and again. You can simply include all that information on your website and direct them there. We cannot stress enough on the importance and ease of having a website of your own. It’ll save you a bunch of time and energy when it comes to managing your business, so you can focus on the growth and quality of your products and services instead. 

If you are a small business, make sure your website can be easily updated and edited whenever YOU want, so that you don’t have to spend your budget on paying developers to do so. If you’re interested in learning more about an all-in-one website solution that would give you free rein over your website, check out the MASK Blueprint! 

If you have any questions about our web design and development services or any questions about building your own website, feel free to schedule an appointment with us and we’d love to see how we can help!