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Future-proof your Business Growth after the Pandemic

Chưa phân loạiSocial Outreach

20/08/2021

29

Future-Proof your Business Growth after the Pandemic

The pandemic has made many businesses change, maybe even in a direction that’s not in their original plan.
The question now isn’t “When will this crisis end?” but “Which direction should my business head to when it ends?” Is it better to continue the current change, though it’s just an ad-hoc adaptive decision? Or should we return to our well-thought plan before the outbreak?
Let’s prepare for the future of your business after the pandemic with our three-step guidelines.

Step 1: Identify Business Goals after the Pandemic

In other words, ask yourself, “What do you as a business want after the pandemic ends (or at least eases)?”
For starters, think about 3 factors:

Brand Image and Identity

“How do you want your customers to see you after this crisis?”
The answer is closely linked to how you do digital marketing during the pandemic, because it’s almost the only way for brands to communicate with their customers.

According to statistics about digital marketing trends in pandemic, many companies have changed their messaging strategy since the outbreak.
This decision has altered their brand image, favorably in the tendency of being more caring, secure and helpful.
If this “new” image is akin to the pre-pandemic image, you can just carry it on to the post-pandemic period. Otherwise the decision is much harder.[divider height=\”30\”]

Competitiveness

“ How do you want to position in the market?”
As analyzed in the article about running business during the pandemic, the number of competitors doesn’t wane. Instead, they move from their original sectors to “flourishing markets” such as essential goods and at-home entertainment.
But we are not sure if they will stay or return to their old sector when the time comes. If you’re one of them, it’s time to think about the next step and your future’s competitiveness.

business after pandemic
business after pandemic

Working Environment

“How do you want to run your company?”
Which processes, strategies or projects have been delayed, cancelled, accelerated or created during the crisis? And what do you want to do with them after the pandemic?
Don’t forget to consider impact on both non-human (mission, direction, resources, overall strategies, etc.) and human aspects (employees, stakeholders, etc.)
Let’s take an example of the work-from-home (WFH) movement. In the analysis of the future of remote work, McKinsey has found that “more than half of the workforce has little or no opportunity” for WFH due to their job nature. How are you going to tackle this when lockdown and social distancing stops plaguing us?

Step 2: Measure Your Business Gaps between Now and After the Pandemic

We are not going to measure gaps between periods of pre and post pandemic, but between the present and the future. There are many types of gaps, but today we will focus on resource gaps only. As you read through each gap, think about it in your current business situation.

Groundwork

This is what your business owns in order to bounce back after the pandemic. It may include “hardware” such as processes, physical and virtual infrastructures, and systems.
Some companies have no choice but cutting these down to save costs, inevitably making their stand weaker after the crisis.
For example, digital marketing is a great advantage of a business in the present and future. If your company has already applied (or at least planned to apply) advanced technologies such as predictive analytics, data, chatbot, etc., your digital marketing post pandemic will pay off substantially. And if you haven’t invested much in this powerful tool, it’s better late than never.

the future of digital marketing
the future of digital marketing

Finance

If you want to go all out after the crisis ends, money shouldn’t be your problem. But this is hardly the case for most businesses.
One way to overcome future financial problems is to plan it ahead. Don’t wait until the lockdown is out of sight to build your groundwork, because it’s not only too late but also costly at that time.

Customer base

In the article about the Overview of Digital Marketing during Pandemic, we know that customers change their behaviors during social distancing, and some of those changes persist post pandemic.

Some typical consumer trends are digital and mobile shopping, and spending more for home improvement in a homebody economy post pandemic.

How have your customers changed and how will they change? Are you ready to cater for a new customer segment after the crisis? Or would you prefer to keep growing your old customer base?

Employees

There are 3 main aspects to consider:

First is the turnover

There is a growing concern about the “great resignation” in which employees quit en masse after the pandemic subsides or ends.

Fortunately, there will be a big supply of workforce. So the question here is about employee retention as high turnover costs you both money and reputation.

Second is skill sets

In social distancing, employees, managers and even business owners must learn new skills. For example, digital marketing skill is a typical choice as it can be used right away and of course remains useful in the future.
But how will you utilize these newly learned skill sets, especially when they aren’t the core functions of your learners-employees?

And lastly, the number of employees you need

This is about workforce planning and it depends on your strategy. If you want to keep outsourcing post pandemic, this may not change a lot. But if you choose to open new physical stores, it needs not just a one-page plan from your HR department.

post pandemic consumer trends
post pandemic consumer trends

Time

This is the most precious resource as it’s flowing in only one direction: forward. There’s no time to dilly around and hope for the best. If you have set a goal of long-term business transformation, prepare for it now as it always takes longer than we expected.
Remember, returning to “the good old way” is sometimes more difficult than you thought. For example, if you stop SEO and restart it later, you can’t expect your results to immediately return to the previous level.

Step 3: Plan for Sustainable Business Growth after the Pandemic


After the second step, you should know whether your goals set in Step 1 are feasible. If not, re-set them before reading this last step.
Let’s go through two Do’s and one Don’t.

DO: Keep Your Online Presence Active

Do you know that online companies are thought to be the best business type in this pandemic?
Even if your business was not online-based before the outbreak, you must move online if possible to survive. While this may be an ad-hoc decision, don’t return to an all-offline business after social distancing goes away.

Why? Because digitalization is the unavoidable development of the whole world. It’s just a matter of time before every business has an online presence. If you don’t have enough resources for investment right now, at least try to keep your online activities going.

Therefore digital marketing efforts must go on and even more vigorously after the crisis. You can always choose to outsource this to a reliable digital marketing agency so that you can focus on other core businesses.

DO: Go Omnichannel

This is not a new trend and many retailers have started it before the outbreak. Combined with advanced technology, omnichannel acceleration during the pandemic will bring even more convenience to customers.
Businesses are aiming to create more touchpoints, including brand-owned and non-owned. Marketplace partners are also under consideration to amplify business reach.

DON’T: Return to All Pre-Pandemic Activities and Standards

It’s the “new normal”, not the past that we’re heading to.

What used to be your advantages may stop being so after the global lockdown. Stay alert and objective when evaluating your position.
For example, though a quarterly revenue increase of 10% was normal before the outbreak, don’t base on this to set up post pandemic goals. At the very least, it will demotivate your employees even more after a mental beat-up during prolonged social distancing.

digital marketing during pandemic
digital marketing during pandemic

Conclusion

The common way to predict the future is to look at past trends and listen to gurus. However, this is the first time since the start of the digital age that we are plagued by a global pandemic. Therefore don’t hastily follow any advice. Instead, management of any business must stay alert, prepared and objective in every step.
No matter which directions you choose to grow your business, “shift to digital” is inevitable. In this trend, digital marketing and eCommerce are two cornerstones of the future.
The good news is you don’t need to personally learn about these to enjoy their benefits, just outsource them. From content marketing, video marketing, social media management, to eCommerce website design and mobile app development, On Digitals is by your side to bring your digital marketing strategies to the next level.


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