Marketing in the COVID19 World - My Top 5 Recommendations for Small and Medium Businesses

With almost 5 million cases around the globe and more than three hundred thousand deaths, COVID-19 is here to stay. The working culture has to adapt rapidly and so as Marketing teams too. Being on the expense side Marketing budgets may get reduced by up to 75% and the team sizes may shrink.

Here I present my top 5 recommendations for small and medium businesses which can help them reduce the overall Marketing cost and redirect the funds effectively.

1. Invest in Employees:

During this lockdown, get to know your employee's career plans. Explain to them that the coming time will require them to be working on multiple projects together along with extended skills in their respective fields. With a limited workforce and limited budgets, small and medium-size businesses will try to make the best use of employee skills or would like to hire new people with multiple skills. Invest in enhancing their skills with short term Online courses and empower them with added responsibilities to execute.

2. Small Teams:

The formation of small teams can give you amazing results. Working alone or with large teams might get boring or chaotic. Small teams of 2 to 5 people can do wonders in a short time with limited resources. Co-ordination and calls are easy to manage along with monitoring of jobs allocated to the teams. Not only this with new skills added to each team member the small teams can execute big tasks in a shorter period of time.

3. Evaluating Monthly Retainers:

Monthly retainer services of various types may start hitting hard as the revenue is also hit badly during this fight with the coronavirus. Hence carefully choosing the essentials is the key to reduce the monthly expense. Try to allocate a few such tasks to your small teams and keep a constant eye on their performance. Also, you may talk to your agencies and optimize the working style along with reduced costs during this tough time. Henceforth both businesses can support each other.

4. Online Tools & Services:

Look for a similar online service that you were taking from your retainers or agencies and I am sure you will be able to find one or the other tools to support that function. Be it creatives or social media services you can get some amazing tools online at 1/10 of the monthly retainer cost. Again your small teams can learn those tools with the help of short term courses or self-help videos.

5. Build Trust:

Retaining the trust with your team during this tough time holds the key to a successful COVID-19 world. A strong team with the right skills can help your company get back to its road to success. If the finances are hitting really hard, it is a good time to share the same with your team and get recommendations. Tell them, we are in this together and will come out with flying colors.

Keep Learning! Keep Growing!

About the Author -

Hi, this is Amit, the founder of Marketing Wizards. I am on a mission to empower the youth and small & medium business owners. With the help of short duration courses in the field of Marketing and Branding, I would like to reduce the gap between theory and practical application. With a decade of experience in the field of Marketing and Communication, I am here to reduce the learning time and maximize the application time.

I believe that learning without application is like a cake without icing. Start your journey today and get ready to take yourself to the next level!