By Marketing Strategy, Business continuity, Work alternative
While certain businesses are facing a state of inactivity due to the current crisis, company owners must keep their business on float, taking the necessary measures in following a strategic plan for ensuring business continuity as a solution to Covid-19 consequences. Under this context, we gathered information on how to prioritize the needs in your business under a management strategy that will ensure your business continuity, no matter the industry.
Make your employees your top priority within your business planning
The past few months have matured into a critical situation that is affecting people and businesses all over the world. In such moments it is vital to have a strategic plan that your company will follow. First of all, think about your human resources and how you can have continuity in your company's activities, especially if your are planning to go back to the office soon. To ensure that your company will not be affected in terms of human resources, it is highly recommended to firstly, put the employee safety as a priority, and have a well-built plan, as follows:
1. Evaluate the health risk
Knowing your employees' health status is a golden rule which all companies by now should have taken into consideration. By monitoring your employees, you will be able to keep track of those who have been recently traveling or are infected, to take action upon those cases priorly.
More than that, there are certain businesses where the employees are more exposed to the virus than in other places, due to the way they are carrying out their jobs. In those cases, your management team needs to prioritize a tactical strategy that will secure your business's continuity and your employees' safety.
Remember that your employees' safety is the gateway to your brand's positive image, after all, so you have to continually think about the impact that your decisions have upon them.
2. Continue your current alternative ways of working
Many organizations confirmed they will still be working from home for a while, even when the quarantine is over, from different reasons. Another option we have seen being implemented is gradually bringing the employees back to the office.
Nevertheless, there is a significant mention that while having employees working remotely would seem like a desirable action, specialists advise us not to shut down the operation completely. One recommendation is to monitor the employees while also ensuring their privacy. This implies that you need to maintain efficient communication with each team member so that the work won't be left behind.
If this strategy has worked for your business during the quarantine, then most probably it is best for you to continue with that efficient system you have implemented by now.
To make the most of this remote work, many applications started to be used, depending on company's needs and the clients' preferences. To ensure that your team is making progress with its tasks, here are a few of the most commonly used applications:
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Slack: is a great tool when you are looking for an easy way to share documents that can be structured separately for each one of your clients. For a detailed description of how you can enhance Slack while working remotely, you can have a look at this video.
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Trello: this is an efficient application for project management, and it allows you to manage each teamwork, as well as the allocation of each task, and continuously track the work progress. Here is a demo on how to make the best of Trello:
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Google Drive: a standard and accessible method to use the cloud in a way that allows your employees to work on documents together, while also allowing your clients to see the materials that you're working on.
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Whereby: once your employees have started to work remotely, you will have to hold virtual conferences with them, as well as with the clients, and Whereby is just the right tool for video conferencing. If your meetings require a high number of present members, you can get a Whereby business plan.
Run an analysis of the business impact
Each business will have a financial and operational plan in case of a business crisis, and it is vital to consider the impact that this pandemic has upon your business. One thing you have to consider is the industry you are in since some industries will be more impacted than others.
If you are looking for a team that can help you with the business' challenges as the crisis is rising, get in touch with us and let's grow your business together!
Think twice before cutting your marketing budget
Nevertheless, no matter the category your business is in, you should not cut your marketing budgets as a fast reaction to the stock indexes decrease. When you have a well-implemented marketing and communication measurement plan, it will become easier to see from where you get your return on investment, therefore, enabling you to make fact-based decisions, and not based on assumptions.
By evaluating data related to justify budgets, your business will be able to make a strategic decision on whether cutting marketing budgets is the right thing to do. When doing so, make sure that your budget-decision makers and all stakeholders have agreed upon future decisions, also based on metrics from coming from the link between your activities and sales.
Why cutting your marketing budget might not be the right decision?
To answer this question, we can have a look at different studies that show us how, in the past, certain brands like Pizza Hut have seen a significant increase in sales during a crisis. Pizza Hut exploited the fact that McDonald's was dropping its marketing budget during the recession of 1990-1991, and as a result, its sales increased by 61%, while McDonald's sales have decreased by 28%.
To make sure that your decision to cut down the marketing budget will not threaten your company's long-term market share, confirm with the management if this marketing strategy is one that shows consistency and persistence. Most importantly, remember that you don't have to start this journey on the premise that no one will be buying your product or services.
Final thoughts
Listening to the reaction on the ground is something your company should focus on during this time, to make sure that you are taking appropriate actions while monitoring the situations with stakeholders regularly.
We believe in the power of business community, the reason why our NNC Services Senior Marketing Consultants are available to provide a free 1-hour consulting session via Skype, Zoom, phone or any other remote communication platform in the following days, to help you with key advice of how to approach marketing in the times of crisis and move towards a more digital-oriented communication.
