Marketing Tips: What type of COVID-19 business are you?

At Yachting Pages Media Group we are passionate about marketing – we love to help businesses flourish and fulfil their potential. It’s what we do. It makes us feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Nevertheless, we understand the predicament businesses currently find themselves in. The world is in the midst of an unprecedented global pandemic and economies are grinding to a halt. It’s a difficult time and careful decisions are being made by business owners to ensure they can begin operations again as quickly as possible when lockdowns are lifted.

In these uncertain times one thing remains sure, however: Marketing is key – even in a crisis. With this in mind, we’ve decided to share some key marketing tips and advice in a new series of articles, specifically designed to help you help your business during these challenging times.

In the sixth article of the series, we look into some of the marketing trends we’ve identified in businesses during the coronavirus pandemic and pose the question: Where does your business stand?

Evaluating your business’s marketing stance

Here at Yachting Pages we are usually considered to have the world’s most comprehensive database of suppliers and services for the superyacht industry – and with over 25,000 listings, we spend a lot of time speaking to businesses of all sizes.

Over the past few weeks since lockdowns were imposed, we have noticed some very interesting marketing trends that are happening as a direct result of COVID-19.

We thought it would be interesting to document our observations, as we’ve found that every business falls into one of three camps across a range of marketing scenarios.

We want to encourage you to think about where your business stands. How are you adapting to the situation? Are you making it known to the world that you’re open for business? Is there more you could be doing?

In the following scenarios, identify whether you’re Business A, Business B or Business C. It will give you a good insight into your business’s outlook, the message it sends to your clients and the (lack of) revenue you’re generating.

Open or closed?

• Business A: Closed its doors due to COVID-19. They’re thinking about re-opening but are not sure due to the health risks.

  Because they are closed, everything is on hold or cancelled – including their marketing.

• Business B: Closed its doors and sent customer-facing staff home, but continued to trade. They made sure all current and future customers knew they were still open for business.

  Because they were still open, they were able to continue with their marketing. Despite being understaffed, they managed to keep their social media marketing going.

• Business C: Didn’t close at all. Their staff carried on working, from home, and were socially distancing in their workshop. They made sure all their customers knew they were 100% open for business.

  They kept up their usual marketing activity before identifying the opportunity presented to them as a result of their competitors being closed. Wishing to capitalise, they increased their marketing – for the rest of 2020 and even for 2021.

Sales or no sales?

• Business A had no sales during the whole lockdown period due to being completely closed.
• Business B ‘ticked over’ – they made a few sales during lockdown or confinement.
• Business C increased their sales during lockdown.

Open or closed - what did their customers do?

• Well I wanted to use my usual supplier, Business A, but they were closed due to COVID-19. I looked for alternatives and chose another supplier who were actually really good.
• I called my usual supplier Business B thinking they would be closed but they were actually open so I gave them my order.
• Wow, these Business C guys are great. Unlike some businesses they didn’t close; they adapted and found a solution to remain open. I gave them my order with pleasure and even ordered a bit more than usual.

Marketing – what customers thought

• I called Business A and they were closed. I’ve not heard from them since. I’ve not seen any marketing or advertising activity so I’m guessing they went bankrupt, or will do so imminently. Never mind, I found a great new supplier.
• I called Business B and found out they’d closed their shop during COVID-19, but I checked their website and other digital sources and found they were still open.
• I had an email from Business C to let me know they were open as normal. I’ve seen their adverts everywhere during COVID-19 and since lockdown ended as well. I even found out from their marketing that they also supply this fantastic new product that the boat has needed for months. I’ll definitely be ordering again from Business C very soon!

What it all means post-COVID-19

• Business A is in a much weaker position. Not only have they lost customers, money and market share, but most people think they are closed and they have no marketing or advertising to tell people otherwise.
• Business B is going steady – no more, no less. They remained partially open, kept their marketing and advertising going and sales and customers are slowly coming back thanks to their continuous marketing presence all the way through COVID-19.
• Business C is flying. They kept their staff safe but busy, increased their marketing and won market share from their competitors being closed. Now things are picking up again, they look way stronger than before COVID-19 and are winning new clients left, right and centre.

Is your business burying its head in the sand?

Which of the three routes is your business headed down – and are you happy with that destiny?

If the answer is ‘no’, fear not. It isn’t too late to turn things around, but your next move has to be the right one.

Every day we speak to businesses that ask us what they can do ‘right now’ to promote their brand, terrified of missing out on potential custom after neglecting their marketing activity for a while. Thankfully Yachting Pages can help.

We have a wide range of digital marketing solutions that can put your business in front of the industry. Yachtingpages.com and the Yachting Pages app welcomes thousands of users every day, while our Yachting Pages Delivers option can get you on board some of the biggest superyachts, making Yachting Pages the perfect platform to reach those who matter: The yacht’s decision makers.

We can guide you towards both immediate and longer-term advertising options, to ensure your business is equipped to make the most of the coming season – and in the months and years beyond.

No-one really knows how long or busy this year’s Med season will be. Perhaps now is the time to ask yourself how much of the available business you want to capture.

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For more marketing advice to help your business flourish during the pandemic, visit our comprehensive Marketing During COVID-19 library. For assistance in improving your business website's SEO, contact us today and learn more about our specialist marketing services.