{"id":26072,"date":"2020-04-23T07:43:00","date_gmt":"2020-04-23T11:43:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/?p=26072"},"modified":"2024-06-27T17:39:07","modified_gmt":"2024-06-27T15:39:07","slug":"how-to-open-after-a-lockown","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/how-to-open-after-a-lockown\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Open After a Lockown"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><span>Some states are opening up for business, despite polls that show consumers are still reluctant\u2014and concerned about COVID-19. How should your <a href=\"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/crisis-marketing-strategy\/\" data-lasso-id=\"1084\">marketing<\/a> address the fear?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>It can seem confusing and overwhelming to balance the need for safety and staying in business.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>But here\u2019s the deal.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>Your business is a reflection of you and your values and beliefs. \u00a0It\u2019s important to stay true to those. \u00a0You basically have three choices:<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span>Stay with your existing lockdown strategy. &nbsp;<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span>If you are personally concerned with your wellbeing and that of your employees and customers, you can choose to stick to your existing way of doing business. &nbsp;Just because everyone is opening, doesn\u2019t mean you have to. &nbsp;And, if your customers are just as concerned as you are, then you need to reflect that.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span>Run a modified re-opening strategy. &nbsp;<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span>If you\u2019re eager to get <a href=\"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/drive-traffic-website-social-media\/\" data-lasso-id=\"1086\">back to business<\/a> and you want to make sure that your staff and customers are safe, you can create a modified strategy. <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span>If you are a restaurant, retailer, nail salon, gym, etc. you can limit the number of people that you have in your facility. \u00a0You can only be open for a few hours. Get together with your employees and discuss how you might make it work.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span>If you are a service business or professional business such as a financial planner, insurance office or attorney, you can structure appointments such that there is enough distancing as well as enhanced cleaning between appointments.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span>If you\u2019re a non-essential manufacturing business, consider dividing up your staff into shifts or only bring back a certain number of essential employees at certain times.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span>Open your business completely<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span>If <\/span><span style=\"font-style:italic\">you<\/span><span>&nbsp;believe that you are ready to open completely <\/span><span style=\"font-style:italic\">and<\/span><span>&nbsp;you are confident that you have a significant segment of customers who are comfortable with a full-open &#8212; then DO IT.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>It\u2019s your business. You make the decisions. &nbsp;And if your state allows you to open, then do it.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span>The Step-by-Step Guide to Reopening Your Business<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span>Get crystal clear on where you stand around this situation. &nbsp;Remember, there is an audience for any position you take. &nbsp;So use your own judgement.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Recently SCORE released&nbsp;<a rel=\"noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.score.org\/resource\/checklist-how-reopen-your-small-business-after-coronavirus-shutdown-and-stay-open\" target=\"_blank\" data-lasso-id=\"1087\">The Coronavirus Small Business Reopening Checklist<\/a>&nbsp;provides a list of guidelines and action items that small business owners should consider as they reopen their brick and mortar stores.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>Check in with your state to see your state\u2019s status and recommendations for reopening.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>Meet with your employees and see where they stand. &nbsp;Tell them what you\u2019re considering, share your point of view and see how comfortable they feel about opening up. If your employees are uncomfortable with coming back to work &#8212; do not force them. &nbsp;It will create a bad customer experience and create negative word of mouth.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>If your employees are open to it, brainstorm their thoughts and ideas on what would be a safe way to reopen.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>Once you\u2019ve decided and have everyone\u2019s support &#8212; make a list of how you\u2019re going to operate.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span>How to Inform Customers About Your Operations<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><span style=\"font-weight:700\">IMMEDIATELY: Update your Google listing.<\/span><span>\u00a0 Your customers are searching for your hours or how you\u2019re operating, so update this first.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight:700\">Update your website. \u00a0<\/span><span>You can place a banner on your website that links to a page that outlines how you\u2019re operating during this time. \u00a0Be sure to put a date on the site and keep updating it so that people know that it\u2019s current.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight:700\">Send emails to your customers. <\/span><span>\u00a0If you have a customer email list, let your customers know exactly what they can expect from your business, when you\u2019re open and what they need to know in order to do business with you. \u00a0List any special restrictions, instructions, etc. \u00a0You want to make sure that they know exactly what to expect.<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight:700\">Update Facebook Pages.<\/span><span>\u00a0 Post an announcement on your Facebook page. \u00a0Get creative. You can post a video with you and your team. \u00a0You can post images or video of you and your team preparing to open. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><span style=\"font-weight:700\">Update any signage.<\/span><span>\u00a0If you have any signage outside your business &#8212; update it. \u00a0You can place your phone number, a simple link to your website.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><span>Prepare for Another Disruption<\/span><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span>I\u2019m not sure where you stand on this \u201copening up the country\u201d discussion. &nbsp;But one thing we\u2019ve all learned from this pandemic is that you have to be prepared for another disruption.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>Don\u2019t forget to make a Plan B or even a Plan C! <\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>There is a good possibility that we will see more disruptions in another month or two or six or twelve. &nbsp;What will you do THEN?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>The tips I\u2019ve shared apply no matter what the disruption. &nbsp;<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>There is only one other disruption that we haven\u2019t talked about &#8212; and that is a real possibility. &nbsp;What if the internet goes down? &nbsp;What will you do?<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span>Plan for it!<\/span><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Navigate marketing amid COVID-19 with a balance of safety and business needs, reflecting your core values and beliefs despite consumer concerns.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":26074,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[47],"class_list":["post-26072","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-marketing-trends","tag-crisis-marketing"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26072","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=26072"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26072\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":84211,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26072\/revisions\/84211"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/26074"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26072"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26072"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/diymarketers.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26072"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}