Right now we are all in unprecedented times with the global pandemic that we are in the midst of. It means that now more than ever your business might be under threat. It could be that you are unable to trade as you would do normally.

You may have had to shut shop and work from home, or even stop altogether while you figure things out. You won’t be alone, and so many business owners and entrepreneurs will be facing the same difficult decisions about what to do next. 

The lockdown period might mean that you can’t necessarily trade face to face, but that doesn't mean that your business needs to stop completely. If you can safely sell items online, take orders for when the lockdown is over, or even come up with new strategies then these things will all be positive steps in the right direction.

Could you utilise the lockdown period wisely and have you and your business come out of it stronger than ever? Now is the time to take on some of the things that can enable you to do that. With that in mind, here are some of the things that you can do for your business while in lockdown. 

Make new goals and ambitions

Now more than ever you need to start thinking about the future when it comes to your business, and what you can do to come out of this unscathed. This is when you might need to think about making new goals and ambitions for the future with your current situation in mind.

Take the time to look back at your business plan and what goals you may have set initially. You may find that you have already smashed certain targets and you now need to think about the next step.

Be that expansion or whether you choose to improve your business ready for when the lockdown periods are lifted. No matter how big or small, set those goals to help keep you focused. A time like now means that you can easily be distracted, especially when working from home. 

Tackle the jobs you don’t have time for normally

The next thing to do would be to utilise the time wisely. This might be taking on some of the jobs that you have had on your list for some time, and wouldn't normally have the time to do it. It could be things like otpising the content on your website, making changes and improving the keywords in it so that SEO can be maximised.

After all, you will want to do what you can to encourage online traffic to your website, now more than ever as more people are using the internet for shopping and making their own plans for the future.

Other jobs might be smaller admin tasks, working on plans for new products and services, or generally decluttering your business so that it can function better. 

Think about a fresh marketing approach

Another thing to think about would be your marketing options and what you can do with them now that we are in the lockdown period. This could be an ideal opportunity to change your marketing approach.

You could look at things such as how you share content on social media, maybe think about diversifying your business and creating new offers for the services and products that you can provide in this period.

It might be that you want to use the time wisely to start thinking about future campaigns and how you might launch your business after this lockdown period is over. Now is the time to get creative and think about some of the things that you can do. 

Networking plans for the future 

Networking is always going to be a great way for you to reach out to new clients and also a fantastic way to collaborate with other businesses. However, you may want to think about some of the ways you might do it.

It could be that you create a presentation and talk about your business, you could use companies like Buffalo 7 to help come up with a fantastic presentation that showcases your business in the right way.

Right now, networking events may not be happening because of social distancing, but the inline world is changing the way we do business, so you could create an online event that will help you to advertise and connect with like-minded individuals. Platforms like Zoom are great for this. 

Diversify your business

While in lockdown, we need to start thinking about ways your business can be diversified. You might not be able to trade as you would normally, or maybe even connect with your customers in your usual way.

But you still have a business that needs to run and you still need to earn an income in some way. So what are you going to do? You need to find ways that you can still trade. That might be using the online world and communication applications to do it.

It might be creating new products and services that don’t need to be sold face to face or have a contactless system so you can practice social distancing measures. Think outside the box at this time and you will benefit. 

Social media and humanising your business 

Social media is going to be huge right now, with more people using the online world to connect your business has much more opportunity to be seen. So one is a great time to humanise your business and to be relatable. You could do this through showing the face behind the business.

Maybe sharing your thoughts on the current situation or how you and your business are dealing with it. Share offers and services for free, attract new customers and engage with comments and direct messages. The more you change up your social media presence, the better chance you have of coming out of this in a good position. 

Outsourcing and flexible working options

If you want to outsource and offer up flexible working options, now is the perfect time to test the waters.

People have no choice but to change the way they world and do business, so working from home or offering up flexible working arrangements to your staff means that you need to find ways to continue to work through the current situation. Outsourcing is a great way to get things done, and now is the ideal time to start working on your business in other areas. 

Changing the way you communicate 

You might want to start changing the way you communicate, with employees but also clients and customers. Thanks to video calling options like Zoom and skype, this is easier than ever to do. It could be that you want to think about email lists and newsletters and also using social media and other tools to communicate. The digital world is helping out many businesses during this time, so why not change thigns yourself? 

New ideas and expansion options 

Finally, now is the time to start thinking about new ideas and how you might expand your business in the future. It could be that you look at things like product launches, diversifying your business in a different direction thanks to changes you have made today.

It may even be setting yourself some goals and ambitions for what the future looks like for your business once this lockdown period is finished. This is only temporary after all. 

Lockdown won’t last forever, but it is a crucial time for your business. Let’s hope these suggestions help your business to come out of it on top.