After a bruising year of devastating casualties and broad social consequences, small businesses need to get back on their feet. Here’s how they can bolster their chances of success.
Photo credit: Wallpaper Flare
It’s hard to deny that 2020 was the toughest year for humanity in decades. With the COVID-19 pandemic rampaging throughout the world, nations pursued drastic lockdown measures, leading to the indefinite suspension of conventional office life and most brick-and-mortar business (rewriting the rules of retail, as HBR put it). A lot of companies were able to adapt, moving online and using their familiar brands to get attention — but many small businesses weren’t anywhere near as fortunate.
Furloughed or fired workers saw their levels of disposable income plummet. Fresh health and safety requirements made any offline processes extremely challenging. Complicating things further, the pressure and opportunities of lockdown life gave rise to a new wave of entrepreneurship, meaning there’s more competition around than ever before.
In light of this, how can small businesses get ahead in such difficult times? Factoring in things as they are now and as they may be months down the line, here are some thoughts:
They can invest in new talent
Plenty of talented professionals ended up unemployed in 2020, not because of their poor performance but because of circumstances beyond their control — and small businesses can take advantage of this by concentrating on human capital. The top prospects can command massive salaries, of course, but growing companies shouldn’t be going for those people. They should be investing in workers with potential: people who can pick up new skills and get better at everything they already do.
If you take a chance on someone during such miserable economic conditions, their gratitude will drive them to work hard and repay that favor. And when a couple of years have gone by and they’ve shown enough ability to get a barrage of offers from bigger businesses, that gratitude will inspire them to stay with you and see how far you can go.
They can monetize their expertise
If you’re not making enough money through selling products or services, why not sell information? It’s become increasingly common for people with notable expertise to create course materials and charge people for access. Just look at the prevalence of online course platforms making it easy to sell digital assets (Learning Revolution provides a full breakdown).
Today’s small-business owners can write up guides on all their professional experiences. They can cover how they got started in business and what lessons they’ve learned since first entering the entrepreneurial world. And when they have enough material, they can price it accordingly. It doesn’t really matter if they don’t make much money. Since there are barely any maintenance costs involved (just whatever the course platforms charge), a handful of sales each month will feel like getting free money.
They can focus on timely offers
With each passing month, there’s a new array of social changes. Lockdown restrictions are limited or reinforced, businesses open and close, and individual priorities shift. Small businesses can benefit from this by creating limited-time offers to suit these adjustments. Following the announcement of a vaccination milestone, for instance, a business could heavily discount its gift items, anticipating that people will want to see their extended families.
The key to this is framing the offers correctly. Shape the copy around those social events to make it clear why people should care. Furthermore, if you discount something and state that it’s intended to make lockdown life less boring, people will be far more interested in it than they would have been had you framed it as a regular discount.
Small businesses have a lot of hurdles to overcome at this point, but it isn’t impossible. The suggestions we’ve looked at here can make it significantly easier for today’s business owners to adapt their tactics.
