How small businesses can stay busy during COVID-19 downtime

We are currently in a time where many small businesses have to stop operating and tradespeople are stepping back from working in others homes. But it doesn’t mean, you can’t work on improving your business during this downtime.

It’s important that we can utilise this time to improve our businesses and expand in different ways, including social media presence, improving your website design or maybe you’re just looking to switch to an easier form of invoicing.

Build your brand or take on a re-brand

If you’re feeling stuck in your business and have been thinking about re-branding your business for a while, there is no better time than right now. Remember to not rush the branding of your small business, as it is something to take your time with.

If you are launching a new brand and contemplating your business name, logo branding and where to start with advertising, then our ‘building your brand’ article will be key for you. We walk you through a whole design of an advertising leaflet, to ensure that your business is put in front of the right people.

3 things you’ll learn from this article:

  1. The importance of a unique business name
  2. How to design an advertising leaflet
  3. Buzz words to include that mean something to your customers

Read branding your business here.

Design your website

A website is essential to any business. Whether you are selling a service or a product, you need a website to connect to your customers. It’s time to ask yourself, how well is your website performing? Are orders coming in? Are people looking at your website? Is your website visible on search engines?

Within our article for building your website, we discuss how best to design your website with the customer in mind and how you can optimise it to reach its full potential with both customers and search engines.

If you’ve been intimidated by SEO (search engine optimisation) before, we help break it down so it’s simple for you to understand and implement on your website. Making small changes to your website now, from new photos to SEO can make a positive impact on your customer’s journey with you, which can then in turn help you reach your business goals, whether that is more sales or enquiries.

3 things you’ll learn from this article:

  1. What makes a good website design
  2. The value keywords can have in your search engine ranking
  3. How search engines work and how to implement an SEO strategy

Read how to build a website for your small business here.

Work on your social media strategy

If your business isn’t on social media, you may be missing a trick… and also a massive platform to promote your business on. Whether you sell plants, are a tradesperson or own small fashion retail shop, your audience lives on social media.

It’s been reported that 80% of consumers are more likely to purchase from a company that is active on social media. While your business may be slowing down, it doesn’t mean you have to. Now is the time to kickstart your social media presence and promote your business on a new platform.

Social media to get involved in can include Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and LinkedIn. They all have different types of audience and can be used in different ways. No business starts with lots of followers, which is where ads come in to help you build your audience quickly. With just a small budget, these platforms allow you to target select demographics who may be interested in your business.

Within this article, social media for business, we discuss the different benefits of utilising social media for your business and top tips.

3 things you’ll learn from this article:

  1. Marketing benefits for social media, including analytics and understanding your audience
  2. Geo-targeting social media content
  3. Tips for tradespeople

Read social media for business here.

Simplify your business with apps

Do you still have a large portion of your business in paper form? Could you switch to taking mobile payments? Are you finding it hard to keep track of your receipts?

As frustrating as this downtime is for many businesses, especially smaller businesses, it can be a wonderful opportunity to make modifications to the way you work, when you wouldn’t normally have the time because of constant customers.

In our guide to apps, we go through a variety of different apps for different purposes, with some even working together to make your business system simpler. Payment apps will sync with your accounting software, logging each payment and every invoice generated, so that you can keep track of everything and help make tax and VAT returns quicker for you.

3 things you’ll learn from this article:

  1. Cost comparison for invoicing apps
  2. The benefit of using a payment app to take money and comparison of charges
  3. How to control your business through accounting software, like Quickbooks and Xero

Read the ultimate guide to the best electrician apps here – although some of these apps are aimed at electricians, the article covers a wide variety of invoicing, accounting and payment apps too, which are relevant for every small business!

Other ways to stay busy during company downtime

  • Is your business paperwork all in order and up to date? Be sure to check that your insurances for the business are in check, as well as your health and safety policies.
  • Could your filing system do with a re-organisation?
  • If you are a tradesperson, ensure your tools are either out of your van or covered when stored in your van. It is always strongly recommended that if you aren’t working, to remove all tools from your van during this period as it is safer in the long run. You can read more about this in our tool insurance comparison guide.
  • Re-evaluate your business goals for the future. What would you like your business to achieve going forward or what business avenues could you look to explore? If you sell smart home devices now, could you look to partner up with a company to offer smart home installation? If you sell products direct to customers (B2C) currently, could you expand and also sell to other small businesses?
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