7 Key Ways to Protect Your Business During the Coronavirus

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Unless you’ve been living under a stone, you’ll have seen the huge changes that the pandemic has been having across the world – on people, on families, and on businesses. But, instead of panicking and preparing for the worst, why not use this time to plan your business afresh, look at your marketing strategies and boost your online presence to help engage with new customers?

It’s the perfect time – now more than ever before, people are hunkering down inside their homes and digital marketing is booming. You have a captive audience to be able to share your key messages with and the time to be able to put yourself in a good spot for when things eventually return to normal.

Wondering how to go about it? Read on for top tips from home renovation specialists, Refresh Renovations on how you can protect your business, ramp up your online audience and use this downtime to your advantage…

Refresh Renovations

1. Plan Ahead

Times are uncertain, but giving yourself a plan of action where your business is concerned is the best way to keep things on track and stay organised, as well as focussing on any changes or improvements that can be implemented at this time.

When you’re making this plan, try to look a few months ahead, rather than working to a week at a time, as it will give you a clear structure to adhere to and help you focus on the bigger picture. It’s also a good idea to ensure any staff know what the plan is, providing them structure, too.

Once your plan is complete, look at what you hope to gain and give yourself a to-do list for each week. This way you’ll have clear objectives and be more likely to stay on track.

Refresh Renovations

2. Connect With Homeowners

With everyone at home, online activity is spiking and it’s a great time to engage with potential customers, reassure current clients and stay connected with your audience. So, how can you go about this? Well, keeping clients informed of your latest projects is a great starting point, as is explaining what your business is doing to keep things moving during this time.

There’s nothing stopping you from making use of technology and hosting online and telephone consultations. Use the enforced pause in normal working life to
contact potential customers – even if they aren’t interested in signing up now, it shows you are still working and keeps you at the forefront of their minds for the future.

It’s also worth opening clear channels of communication with existing customers, using phone calls, emails and even Zoom chats – this will ensure you are able to acknowledge the rapidly changing situation and keep clients motivated. It’s a good time to reassure them they are in good hands and that you, as a company, are able to adjust to the situation.

One company doing exactly that is Refresh Renovations, who understand how difficult it can be to keep moving forward during these challenging times and are ensuring their current and prospective customers’ renovation projects can progress safely, by offering video calls for its briefing, design and planning services. “We are still available for in-person consultations for those who prefer to talk face-to-face,” says Kim Reiche, franchise owner at Refresh Renovations. “For those homeowners who are practicing strict self-isolation, Refresh’s team of renovation specialists are offering virtual briefing meetings via Zoom and Google Hangouts.”

Refresh Renovations

3. Make Sure Your Business is Visible Online

Dedicate time to looking at your online presence and what you can do to improve it. You can start by uploading images of your latest projects, with detailed descriptions of the briefs, so that potential customers can see your recent work, find out more about you and feel inspired.

It’s also wise to utilise social media by joining in discussions on forums or on your comments section – again, it keeps your business at the forefront of people’s minds and reassures them that there is someone listening to them and that you are still very much planning ahead. Keeping up with any questions about your business and answering them as quickly as possible will ensure your customer service is rated highly, too.

You could also use this time to start a blog, offering free tips and advice. This will not only demonstrate your expertise in your field, but will also let your existing and potential customers know you are still thinking of them at this time and value their business. Being visible online is more likely to make your customers think of you when things go back to normal.

Refresh Renovations

4. Invest in Marketing

It’s a tough time for businesses and many are choosing to keep a low profile and wait it out. However, to ensure your business stays strong, and rides the waves until the pandemic ends, it’s crucial you reach out to existing clients and anyone you’d like to work with, so they remember you when thinking about a project.

“Our marketing focus has had to change during this period, as we are unable to do in-person seminars and home shows, for example,” says Reiche. “We’ve used this time to launch a new TV streaming show in partnership with Rawdon Christie (former TVNZ Breakfast host) called The Renovation and Outdoor Living Show. Alongside this, we’ve increased our online marketing and other marketing channels, such as Google Ads, social media and our Houzz profile, and focussed on uploading more reviews and projects online.”

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5. Set Yourself Apart From the Crowd

As well as showing off your projects or products, you can utilise online tools to help you share your knowledge, authority and brand messaging in an engaging way, helping you to stand out. For example, if you’ve been considering rebranding, now’s the perfect time to work on your logo and start getting your brand out there. If your business and logo keeps cropping up with things that people see online, it will help you get noticed over others who choose not to.

Refresh Renovations are using this time to offer online consultations and help new and existing customers plan their projects. A full project plan is offered, including scheduling, design and documentation, meaning the project can continue to move forward without any of the team ever having to set foot on the property.

Refresh Renovations

6. Carry Out Business Housekeeping

Staying calm and productive in this downtime is key and one way to do this is by focusing on the internal processes and projects you never have time for when it’s busy. There’s no better time to get ahead with any admin and put spreadsheets in order, for instance.

You could also look at updating your website – it’s always worth looking at it with a fresh eye and seeing if any parts are out of date, need tweaking or could be improved upon.

Use this time to look at systems that could help your business run more efficiently, too. Perhaps you could research new software and apps that could help you day to day? Anything you can think of to make your business run smoothly in the future is worth implementing now, while you have more time.

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7. Prepare to Bounce Back

Trying not to panic in such an unprecedented time is easier said than done when your business seems to be grinding to a halt, you have staff to pay, orders to fulfil or projects mid-way through. However, with some clever thinking, you can turn this around, get yourself organised, make an online impact, gain new customers and have your business looking better than ever before, ready to bounce back once this is over.

“We are still helping customers with the planning, design and costings for their projects,” says Reiche. “This means there will be a schedule in place and ready to go once lockdown is lifted.”

More: To find out more about Refresh Renovations, click here.

Tell us: How are you planning ahead during this time? Share with your fellow Houzzers in the Comments section below.

This story was written by the Houzz Sponsored Content team.