As the final details of England’s lockdown are being worked out, minimise the stress by taking time to plan what you will do and how you are going to communicate this to your customers and prospects efficiently using social media platforms, web, email marketing, and good old fashioned posters. 

While the news is full of lockdown and the American election, customers across the B2B and B2C sectors are speculating what will happen and who will and will not be open. Do not assume that people will know what you are doing make it crystal clear that you are open or closed, offering delivery or take out, selling online or offering contactless payment, have changed your hours or you are changing your business model.

Here are a few things that we are working with our clients right now for a seamless transition to working during a national lockdown.

1. CRYSTAL CLEAR LOCKDOWN STATEMENT: Explain how you are going to operate, how people can contact you and what services you will be able to offer. Make sure that this can be easily printed and put on a door if relevant. Ensure you have contact details and maybe a QR code if this is a poster that links to more detailed information online. Do not write war and peace. Make it succinct and practical.
2. DIRECT CONTACT WITH CUSTOMERS: Make sure you have an up to date customer & prospect list with email addresses NOW so that you can quickly email all customers with details of your LOCKDOWN STATEMENT. If you don’t have this then start collecting their details but make sure you are working well within GDPR guidelines and explain why you want their details and where you will store them.
3. EMAIL MARKETING TO COMMUNICATE WITH CUSTOMERS: Rather than use your personal email address to send your mass email consider using one of the many email platforms out there. It may be tempting to use your own personal work email for this but beware, sending mass emails from your own email may render your email as a potential spam address, meaning your mass and any subsequent emails may end up in your clients’ junk folders. Avoid that embarrassing conversation with your client asking them to check in their junk or spam folder for your email detailing the amazing service or product they have just agreed to buy from you.
4. CLAIM YOUR GOOGLE BUSINESS PAGE: During the last mass lockdown Google offered businesses with a Google Business page the ability to mark their business as closed or open for “walk-ins” or “delivery service”. Your Google Business details appear at the top of a search if people are searching for a query that your business is related to such as “hairdressers near me”. Each business that is relevant to that query will have their details, reviews and location on a map visible to the user. In addition, if someone searches for “Sweeney Todds Hair Salon” and they have a Google Business page, then the Google Business page will appear on the right of the search listing with your address, contact details, location, reviews, and any posts that you have added to this platform. People no longer go out and browse or mooch around the shops, they go out with a purpose so make sure that they know that you are open and how you are open. This is a really powerful way to let your customers and potential customers know that “WE ARE OPEN”. A word of caution though, if you use your Google Business page and change your opening hours or service details during a lockdown, make sure you change them back when your region goes back to a Tiered system.
5. FACEBOOK, INSTAGRAM, LINKEDIN, TWITTER: If you are on these platforms make sure that they are all consistent with their LOCKDOWN STATEMENT. Some people purely use social media to find out their news and details of who is open, closed, offering delivery and some people use their search engine for this. So make sure that the message is the same on each of these platforms. Add important changes to your bio, consider making it an INSTAGRAM HIGHLIGHT called “LOCKDOWN SERVICE UPDATE”, “COVID SERVICE UPDATE” and you can keep adding more details to this. You can pin a post to your Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn profile so that it is always at the top of your feed. Don’t forget to leave contact details on this post.
6. MESSENGER: Change your questions and answers that you have entered into MESSENGER to ensure that you cover the most important questions and you are not spending time answering the same questions regarding lockdown.
7. SELLING ONLINE: If you have products that you are selling in-store, set up an online shop by using a plugin to your site. You should also add your products to GOOGLE BUSINESS page and your FACEBOOK page which will allow people to buy your products from Facebook and Instagram.

Lockdowns are petrifying as we’ve all invested heavily to make our workplaces COVID safe, so make sure that you are ready to continue working by communicating to your customers, prospects, and even suppliers. Simple posters, QR codes, Email Marketing, Social Media, and Web are all great tools to help broadcast your message and support you in these difficult times.

If you want to discuss any of the tactics discussed here, pick up the phone or email us, we would be happy to help you. (01223) 894888 or hello@brick-marketing.co.uk