The past year has certainly been one of the most difficult for businesses. Business owners that were set for success suddenly found themselves struggling due to limitations and restrictions. Like everyone else, the last thing you anticipated was closing up shop. But that’s a decision many business owners had to make—and it came with huge financial losses. But as coronaviruses reach an all-time low in America, Businesses are now reopening their doors as restrictions are lifted.
Chances are you’ve taken the time to think through and plan out how best to safely re-open your doors. Everything looks good. The only thing that’s remaining is how you’re going to communicate your reopening plan to customers.
Here’s the thing— everyone, including your most loyal customers, has had a stressful time during this period of uncertainty. As such, your goal shouldn’t just be to spread the word about your hours, product changes, and service availability. You must reassure customers that it’s safe to visit and do business with you.
Make sure you craft a reopening message that inspires confidence in both your existing customers and prospects. Once you have that in place, go ahead and spread the word using either of or all the following channels.
Update Your Website
Your website is one of the best channels and platforms you can use to announce your general plan. Unless you couldn’t maintain it due to financial struggles. Even if that’s the case, it’s necessary that you get it back online.
You can either create a detailed blog post with your reopening plans or have a dedicated pop-up window on your site that lets customers know your business is open or reopening. Whichever the case, be sure to include:
- What your hours of operation will be
- When you intend to reopen your business doors
- What or which safety protocols you’ve put in place
You want to create a sense of confidence for anyone who may want to visit your store. And that means providing them with the most pertinent information about your reopening so they can prepare and feel more comfortable about doing business with you.
Also, consider setting an automated message on your website’s live chat so it pops up sharing this very important information whenever a customer visits your site.
Put Up Signage
Picture this: in a few days your little boy is celebrating their birthday. Your plan is to get them a new bike as a gift. You head out to find a local store where you can buy the present. At the back of your mind, you know most businesses are still closed. The coronavirus pandemic is still in action. So, you aren’t sure if you’re going to find what you’re looking for.
As soon as you take your first turn down the road, you see a sign in front of your favorite store indicating they’re reopening the next day. What’s more, they’ve clearly displayed their coronavirus safety plans at the entrance for customers to see. What would stop you from coming back tomorrow to get your kid’s present?
This is exactly what you should do at your business’s physical location. Whether you put up the signage in your yard, at your front door, or window decal, make sure it reassures customers that you’re committed to ensuring their safety.
Send Mailers
If you’ve never considered at any given moment to run a direct mail marketing campaign, this might be the time to implement one. Design a flyer or postcard with your core message to the customers. Simple designs and direct messages will do. Direct mail has been shown to have a higher response rate (9 percent) than email (0.6 percent). People connect more with physical mail and are more likely to read it. Be sure to include an incentive for them to come into your store. You can buy custom window envelopes here.
Update Your Social Media Pages
Digital marketing is changing with COVID. You already know that social networking sites offer a great platform to interact and engage with customers. You’ll need to be creative and hit the right tone when delivering your reopening message via your social media pages.
With social media, you can announce your reopening more visually using short videos. And since this is a more casual channel of communication, you want to be cautious when using humor or being playful in your message. Be sensitive in your communication.
Create a series of written posts, short videos, and other visual content and focus on sharing them on all your social pages at least two or three weeks before you reopen the doors. Consistently push out this content to build anticipation and keep customers engaged.
Send an Email Newsletter
Your email list is essential to communicate re-opening. Even if you haven’t sent your customers an email in the past couple of months, you should announce your plan to reopen. As mentioned, make sure you outline your reopening plan and provide details on the safety protocols you have in place. You don’t have to go into too much detail. Instead, be brief in each email, redirecting customers to your site or social pages for more information.
