With the financial down-turn globally we wanted to lend a helping hand to local businesses in efforts of making it easier for companies to bounce back after ‘the dust settles’. Also, providing thought-starters on how to use any spare time wisely.
In this article, you will find tips to help your business remain productive and gain momentum after the lock-down is lifted.
How is Coronavirus affecting the Bahamas’ economy?
Currently, in The Bahamas, there are four confirmed cases of Covid-19. The global pandemic has sparked a domino effect; spreading its financial impact throughout the region. Countries most affected are those that depend on tourism as their primary means of revenue generation; like The Bahamas.
With that said, we need to be aware of actions that will help in preventing long-term economic damage, especially for small and medium-sized businesses in The Bahamas.
Here are 5 things local business owners can do to help keep their momentum and brand afloat during the lockdown and the weeks that follow.
1. Revise Your Marketing Strategy: The global crisis has undoubtedly altered the mindsets of your clients and potential buyers. Thus, your marketing strategy should also be adjusted as it’s going to require a different approach to reach reluctant buyers. Building quality content and offering greater value in your promotions is a clear path to your success.
2. Brand Marketing: With the curfews established by the government - Many persons are working from home, accessing the internet, social media, articles and news more than ever. Now is the best time to build your brand’s image. Posting relevant content and reinforcing your brand marketing on various platforms.
3. Marketing Audit: Use free time to analyze your website’s design, SEO performance, sales channels/call to actions and conversion points. A full marketing audit will reveal potential opportunities to grow your business.
4. Researching new productivity tools: You will need to optimize your business once things get moving again, in order to do that automation is the best approach. There are many free and paid tools that can automate some of the more repetitive tasks in your organization; helping you to focus on more important aspects and creating more productivity. Tools such as Active Campaign for sending sales and marketing emails, CRMs like SalesForce, Trello for project management, and the list goes on. Do some research on tools that will be the best fit for your company.
5. Financial expense report and overhead optimization: We all know that it’s important for any business to lower costs, save in materials and to build financial strategies. All these actions require time for audits and planning. You might use this span of free time to build your reports and clean up accounting procedures, categorizing accurately your expenditures and optimizing your overhead.
Due to the economic impact of Covid-19, governments and private institutions are working together with optimism in order to soften the ‘blow’. For small and medium business in some countries, the banks are offering loans, extending due dates, mortgages, controlling inflation, and facilitating tax-cutting processes.
What concessions is the Bahamian government offering to local businesses?
At the moment nothing has been confirmed but they are hoping to provide tax cuts and other relief efforts to the local public.
Conclusion:
Despite being aware that the impact of the Coronavirus has affected our economy and that it may lead to a mini-recession - knowledge of how to wisely navigate this ‘uncharted territory’ will be paramount in the survival of your company.