5 Ways to Start A (Or Jumpstart) Your Business During The COVID-19 Pandemic
Written by the design team at HVD Studios, LLC
At HVD Studios, we want to provide our visitors with ways they can either prepare to launch a business, or improve the quality of their existing business. Don't let COVID-19 discourage or distract you from your goals. Here's a quick list of things you can implement during your down time.
1.
Update your social media pages
As business owners, it amazes us how many of our clients use their personal Facebook and Instagram accounts (2 of the social media platforms we recommend minimum) to market their businesses. As the old saying goes, “don’t mix business with pleasure”. This is no different.
The reality is that you should set up business pages for both, even if you are a sole proprietor. This allows you to run sponsored ads and shoppable posts if you are using Instagram or Facebook to sell merchandise, services, or other items. This can’t happen using your personal account.
After you open your business accounts, go through your pages and use the various tabs to your advantage. Be sure to add an updated description of your business, update (or add) your services, and make sure all the other areas of the page are current.
If you accept online appointments, install an online scheduler so followers can book from your Facebook page, and if you currently use e-commerce, connect it to your Facebook page for an additional way for visitors to purchase your products or sign up for your services.
2. Find the perfect domain name
The next order of business is securing a domain name (if you don’t already have a website). The rule of thumb here is to make your domain name short and memorable. If you have a long domain name, it makes it difficult for customers to remember who you are.
If you own a domain name that falls into this category, there’s nothing stopping you from owning another. In fact, most people own between 2-4 domain names. If your domain is long or hard to remember, you can use the new one and forward traffic from the old one to the new one.
3. Learn how to make your own website
Prospective customers have nothing but free time on their hands and if anything, are searching for the right professional for their specific needs. They'll search the internet and will contact the right company when the time is right (or when the economy re-opens).
Making good use of your free time
Use this down time to make adjustments to your website (if you have one), do some additional homework on pricing for items you may need such as business cards, uniforms, etc. or how much it will cost for you to market your business (or run ads on social media/google).
Before the pandemic, it was hard for everyone to find time due to their busy schedules. Now, most people have nothing but free time. Use it to clean up your desktop, clear out old emails, discover new productivity apps, write some social media posts, or even formulate ideas and start writing in your blog.
Make (or revamp) Your Own Website
We finally get to the main point of #3. Learning how to build and operate a website is important if you don’t have the capital to hire a professional company to make one for you. This will help you build your brand while you grow your business.
Confused about how to build a website for yourself? We launched Studio C to provide training, education, and template customization services for those who honestly don’t feel like making a website, very inexperienced with using computers, or have a very small start up budget. For your convenience, we provided a link for you to visit us at Studio C.
4. Fine tune your services
We finally get to the main point of #3. Learning how to build and operate a website is important if you don’t have the capital to hire a professional company to make one for you. This will help you build your brand while you grow your business.
Down the road, we definitely recommend having a professional company to make one for you.
While creating a website yourself may not look as professional as you would like, it’s better than not having a website presence at all. Find an easy to use website builder such as Wix, Squarespace, or GoDaddy and give it a shot. For some, there is a learning curve and for others it’s easy to figure out.
Confused about how to build a website for yourself? We launched Studio C to provide training, education, and template customization services for those who honestly don’t feel like making a website, very inexperienced with using computers, or have a very small start up budget. For your convenience, we provided a link for you to visit us at Studio C.
4. Fine tune your services
What separates you from your competitors? Are you more experienced? Are you certified? Do you offer free training, seminars, or workshops? Do you have an up to date portfolio/photo gallery? Do you have 5 star ratings on Google, Facebook, or Yelp?
These are all areas that successful entrepreneurs and small business owners excel in and possibly the reason you are struggling to grow your business. Most consumers will pay a little more to get better quality.
Nowadays, it's not good enough to just state what you do without having the ability to prove it. Visitors will want to learn more about you and how you've helped others. Prove it to your customers with a coherent list of services, testimonials and images. You’ll gain the trust of your visitors and will increase your odds of gaining new customers by recording and promoting your expertise on Youtube.
5. Come up with a marketing strategy
By far, this is the most difficult part of a business because marketing requires money. Or does it?
Well it depends. If you don’t have a large following on Instagram or Facebook, you won’t be able to market your services. If you don’t have an email marketing list you won’t be able to send off newsletter blasts. So what will you do?
For starters, you can spend this time doing some homework. Do an internet search and see what professionals in your fields are up to. At HVD Studios, we call this recon. It’s free to start a blog. Come up with a list of topics that you feel others would benefit from and find interesting. Write a post once a week and remember to include images. This will show readers that you are a professional in your field and as a result could become a great referral source for you.
Next, start growing your social media audience. Make sure that when you post, your images don’t have a lot of graphics on them, or have been heavily Photo-shopped. It's never good to mislead fans. It’s important to use the right hashtags to attract the right followers. If you don’t have a website, we suggest you get one. There, you can collect leads and show visitors why they should contact you.
Finally, scrape up about $30. This is how much it costs to run an ad on Facebook (Instagram Included) for about 6 days and honestly, this is very inexpensive. The most important thing is determining the purpose of the ad. Are you soliciting your services? Are you trying to drive traffic to your website? Are you trying to grow your social media pages? These are questions you need to figure out because Facebook and Instagram will ask when building your campaign.
By far, this is the most difficult part of a business because marketing requires money. Or does it?
Well it depends. If you don’t have a large following on Instagram or Facebook, you won’t be able to market your services. If you don’t have an email marketing list you won’t be able to send off newsletter blasts. So what will you do?
For starters, you can spend this time doing some homework. Do an internet search and see what professionals in your fields are up to. At HVD Studios, we call this recon. It’s free to start a blog. Come up with a list of topics that you feel others would benefit from and find interesting. Write a post once a week and remember to include images. This will show readers that you are a professional in your field and as a result could become a great referral source for you.
Next, start growing your social media audience. Make sure that when you post, your images don’t have a lot of graphics on them, or have been heavily Photo-shopped. It's never good to mislead fans. It’s important to use the right hashtags to attract the right followers. If you don’t have a website, we suggest you get one. There, you can collect leads and show visitors why they should contact you.
Finally, scrape up about $30. This is how much it costs to run an ad on Facebook (Instagram Included) for about 6 days and honestly, this is very inexpensive. The most important thing is determining the purpose of the ad. Are you soliciting your services? Are you trying to drive traffic to your website? Are you trying to grow your social media pages? These are questions you need to figure out because Facebook and Instagram will ask when building your campaign.
Did you find these tips useful? Let us know!
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