Last year this time, probably we couldn’t imagine a world where we need to wear masks, use disinfection gels and sprays for our hands, or keeping a social distance, even with our family members. Yes, we’ve heard about the then-new coronavirus that appeared in China, due to some bat soup, but we all thought it’s so far away from us. But, three months later, in March 2024, the World Health Organization announced that the coronavirus is taking over the world, and they declared a state of a pandemic. It was pretty unexpected because no one could predict how many countries are deeply affected by the dangerous virus. Everything was new to everyone, even for the doctors and medical staff, who were fighting against something they’ve never seen in their life.
As soon as the pandemic was declared, most of the world was in a state of emergency, and many cities or whole countries were on lockdown. The virus was spreading rapidly, and people were getting sick, hospitals were full, and a lot of the patients were dying in pain. But, at the same time, there was another “pandemic” happening. Since people were getting sick, and others were at home, with moving restrictions, the economy started to suffer, especially the small businesses. At the end of March, and during April, many workers were fired, or on unpaid leave. The governments needed to relocate a lot of money to try to save the private companies in a time of crisis, but sadly, it wasn’t enough.
Anyway, some businesses did it, and they still somehow exist. Surely, there were a lot of things to give up on these months in order to stay competitive. Some of them had their luck, to have a company related to pharmacy, masks, cleaning products, or delivery services. But, some of them needed to get creative and put a lot of effort to save their work. Here are a few ways how they are doing that:
1. Looking for new chances and opportunities
Every company has a reason why it exists, and loyal customers who love and use their products and services, no matter if it’s a time of pandemic or not. The health restrictions opened a lot of new chances for small businesses to adapt to the new situation and improve their service and general user experience. Some of them even succeed to turn that into income, without having to temporarily close their doors. For example, many restaurants included delivery service to the customers’ homes. Many retailers adapted to this type, and it saved them during the crisis.
2. Changing the marketing strategies
According to marketingdonut.co.uk, you must pay a lot of attention to the most anticipated marketing tools, and adapt your strategy to the recent situation. Use social media to promote your work and attract new clients. Many marketing experts consider social ads as the most affordable way to increase your sales, without investing a lot of money in promotion. Another important step is focusing on your target customers because there will be better times to attract new ones. Put all your efforts to provide even better service to the loyal ones, because they will help you save the company, and make your brand more visible in general.
3. Work harder to gain more
If your company faced some loss due to the pandemic, you probably needed to work harder, or even let some employees go, so you can save it. This crisis made a lot of business owners to take unpopular steps, so they can stay on the market, and they needed to choose between the people who work for them and the future of their company. With less staff, these companies needed to double the amount of work and effort, so they can maintain the same or similar results as usual.
4. Getting into “survival mode”
When someone is fighting to survive, a lot of things are allowed. When the workers were initially moved to work from home, many owners say they don’t really need the offices they usually rent. Sadly, they needed to choose who will they let go, who will go on unpaid leave, and who will stay to take all the jobs. This is only beneficial for the company, but hopefully, the people who were fired will be lucky enough to find another job or get back to their previous one after things are more stable.
5. Making all the things virtual
We mentioned that most of the companies don’t own their offices, because it’s more practical to rent them and move to another spot when needed. Small companies usually rent a floor in some building, or even a bigger apartment, and adapt it to office, by installing computers, Internet, phone lines, buying furniture, heating or cooling the space as needed, and so on. That’s a huge expense, so those who were planning the things smarter decided to give up on physical space, and give a chance to the virtual meetings, and remote working. We can say that decisions like that saved a lot of businesses during the pandemic.
6. Getting innovative and creative
This doesn’t mean everyone has to invent something new, but getting creative when it comes to a practical business solution is a life-saver in these situations. So, let your creativity do the job, and motivate the employees to do the same. Sometimes you will need to improvise and even try new tricks so you can save the company, and still be competitive on the market, no matter the situation with the pandemic.
Sadly, not every company will survive this unpleasant situation. Many well-established businesses were crushed under the pressure this emergency situation put on them. People are not powerful to do much to save everything around them, because staying healthy in this case is a bigger priority for everyone. But, we shouldn’t forget we depend on the world economy, and that’s why we all need to be more responsible when it comes to respecting the measures, that are intended to stop the spreading of the virus.
