Our world is facing a very serious challenge with the spread of the coronavirus, but there is hope on the horizon. Businesses have been greatly impacted as the economy has taken a hit. Grocery stores have been left with empty shelves while restaurants are like ghost towns.

As a business owner, you’re likely looking for ways to survive the wave that has Canadians shifting their budgets. If you’re following the constant news updates about the coronavirus, you’re likely wondering if we’ll ever be able to leave our homes again.

But this situation isn’t going to last forever. And your business isn’t closing. As one medical expert said on the news last night, “it’s going to get worse before it gets better.” But don’t overlook the end of that quote: It’s going to get better.

Want proof? Look no further than where the coronavirus started.

According to CNN, China is lifting travel restrictions and life is returning to normal. The coronavirus outbreak has largely been contained across China with lock downs lifted and employees returning to work. China reported only 20 new cases Sunday. That’s a huge contrast to February when China reported thousands of new infections a day.

Even better news came Thursday, when China marked a milestone. For the first time since December, China had no new domestic cases of coronavirus to report.

Canada is about six to eight weeks behind China in the spread of the virus. If the trend holds, Canada should also see a dramatic decrease in positive tests sometime around May maybe even late April .

This should only be a small interruption for your business. And when normalcy does return soon, you don’t want to be left behind your competitors in a race to regain any potential lost revenue.

At a time when much has come to a standstill, business owners need to keep pushing forward with the reality that they will need to be positioned for a strong financial second half of 2020 to meet their revenue goals.

What you don’t want to do now is come to a grinding halt with your digital marketing efforts, That would be a mistake and a complete waste of the time and resources you’ve already poured into your business to gain traction in a crowded online marketplace. You would lose ground to your competitors and put your business in a position to fail in the second half of 2020 when — by all indications — we will have moved past this unfortunate coronavirus outbreak.

If you have any reservations on how to market during these special times we understand and that is why we are available to discuss with you how to go about this.

Stay safe and we shall all make it through this soon enough

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Fast client response time is no longer optional. If there is a problem with your product or service, your customers expect you to resolve it immediately.

Few companies meet these expectations.

A recent study found that customers want responses from companies on social media within four hours, while the average response time is 10 hours. This is not a minor irritation for your customers: it directly affects your profits. A study on Twitter showed that customers are willing to pay nearly $ 20 more for their future tickets when airlines respond to their tweets within 6 minutes.

And it’s not just an isolated data point either. Studies have shown that consumers reward businesses that respond to customer inquiries and complaints. A strong and engaged presence in social media marketing will help you satisfy your customers and keep your public image positive.

A strong presence on social media builds and strengthens brand loyalty.

A recently released report found that brands with active social media profiles have more loyal customers. It’s easy to understand why: When you engage the public on social media, you create connections and relationships. You take the time to provide your subscribers with useful information, help and entertain them, without asking for anything in return.

It shows customers that you value them, not just as a source of income, but as a person. Customers will begin to see you as an entity that cares about them, has values, a personality and a vision. And in a competitive market, it can make a huge difference.

But you have your job to do. How can you do this and manage your company’s social media accounts? Fortunately, you do not have to fend for yourself. There are many solutions such as recruiting an agency that will not only create engaging content for social media on social networks, but will also be able to answer the various questions your customers may have. RSMEDIA does both by engaging your audience and keeping them interested in your brand.

Social media isn’t rocket science but when done right, it’s actually thought out and strategic. And thought out and strategic has a much higher chance of being effective and achieving your goals. It simply can’t be accomplished with a one size fits all strategy. Social media marketing and marketing, in general, requires quite a lot of research and analysis to understand your target audience and market.

So, when you come across a so-called “social media guru” handing out advice without having taken the time to know and understand the target audience or the market landscape, what you are getting is not only unhelpful but potentially harmful advice.

This so-called guru advice is not only harmful to a brand, but also to the industry as a whole. Here’s an example, Lawyers would never give legal advice without knowing the full picture. Just like accountants can’t give advice without knowing your full financial story. Have you ever heard of a doctor prescribing a treatment without testing first? Even public relations professionals don’t offer advice without understanding the landscape first. So why would a “one size fits all ” strategy work for every marketing situation?

We take lawyers, accountants, doctors and many other professionals seriously because they have to take the time to learn about our individual situations, then give recommendations. And they can do this only after having studied their trade for years.  Furthermore, unlike the guru, they stick around to implement and adjust the strategy if needed. That’s what real social media and marketing professionals do as well.

Remember that just because someone sounds like a guru doesn’t mean that they actually are one. Sounding like one and being are two completely different things.

In the land of the blind, the one-eyed man is king! 

A word of advice, anyone who tells you right away that they have the answers to your marketing problems without an in-depth analysis is lying to you! They are most likely only interested in one thing…  And the only thing they are probably good at marketing is themselves!

Why every business without a website is losing out!

How many times have you driven by a business that peaked your curiosity and told yourself that when you got back home, (cause you couldn’t while driving obviously) you would look them up online to and find out more and see what they were all about . Only to find out that they have NO website!! There is a default Google maps listing for their business but no other information can be found. You suddenly become disinterested and move on to another similar business that showed up in your Google search results that does have a website and has all  the information you were looking for. We know the rest of the story… A business who doesn’t have a web site in our day in age, just doesn’t inspire confidence to potential clients.  Most people like to do their research before calling a company or before walking into a business in order to save time and be more efficient. Nothing is more frustrating than driving to a place of business whether it’s close by or far away or hopping on a bus or metro, and realizing it’s not what you thought it was at all! Instead if they had a web site, you would’ve immediately come to the conclusion weather or not this particular business was worth visiting or not and had what you were looking for. It’s simply a waste of your time to blindly show up at such a business.

Needless to say, every business, big or small, needs a website and here’s why:

Credibility
Having a brick and mortar is just not enough anymore. We live in a fast paced virtual world and most people will do their research and compare you with other businesses before they decide to do business with you. By having a website, people can find out more about you, what you do and why you are a better choice and then make their own assessment versus your competitor without even stepping foot once in your place.  Your website is a client’s first impression of your business and it’s an  opportunity to present your business in a positive light. Clients appreciate the fact that you made the effort to get a website done to help them get the most information possible about you. This gives you credibility and builds trust with your customers.

Stand out from your competition
If your business doesn’t have a professional online presence, you’re already a step behind ! Putting yourself out there on the web with a professionally designed website along with a strategic presence on social media is what’s going to put you ahead of the game from your competition who may or may not have an online presence. Regardless, you’ll be competing in a market that’s already underway and building your brand online. Creating interesting and informative content to keep your target audience coming back for more makes you look professional and make you stand out from the rest.

Attract new clients
Walk-ins are great, but having your own website and social media presence allows you to reach a lot more people that do not know that you even exist. How many times have you heard your friends and family talk about an amazing product or business and just tell you to go visit the website to check it out! Having an online presence adds value to your business and helps builds relationships with customers. Your website is your central hub for you business. Via your website you can send them monthly newsletters to stay in touch informing them of sales and new products thus drawing them repeatedly to your business. Therefore not to your competitor… Remember a website works for you 24/7! And a happy customer is a repeat customer.

Whether you want more customers or more sales, having a website is a great way to expand your business and for customers to learn more about you and your business. I hope these reasons on why you need a website, can inspire you to consider creating one today.

Unless you don’t need new clients or more sales, It is unthinkable to be in business in 2017 and function without a website.  If you have no presence on the internet you can rest assured your competitors thank you !

It never ceases to amaze me when I meet business owners who feel marketing is as an amusing hobby within their business duties. In one particular case I was told “I tried social media and I didn’t like it and anyways it doesn’t work, So why should I pay someone to do it when I can do it myself ! ”  So I decided to take a look and of course what I found were poorly thought out ads with horribly amateurish graphics that were obviously created by himself.

But what this ” Do-it-yourselfer ” doesn’t understand is that basic avoidable mistakes are most certainly costing his business a fortune in lost revenue and in most cases the precious credibility and trust they’ve worked so hard to build with their clients. Poor marketing fails to deliver your key message ( assuming a key message was even thought out ) thus your efforts are quickly forgotten, dismissed or even worse ridiculed and end up creating the opposite results.

Marketing is harder than most people think

Many business people live by the mantra “If you want something done right, you got to do it yourself”. But this mindset can and will slowly kill your business, believe me, I’ve seen it happen time and time again.

Let me give you an example: Imagine If I would try to build a sofa. I’d have to figure out how to do it, buy the materials, buy the right tools and then endlessly research the web on how to create a sofa. Let’s say it takes me 30 hours in all to create a sofa… That’s 30 hours I could of spent working on my business and making money not to mention the cost of tools and materials.

It’s ridiculous isn’t it ? Especially when you factor in how much your time is worth. So how much time are you spending blogging about your business? Or how much time are you spending trying to create a social media or adwords campaign per week ? Now multiply the amount of time spent per week by what you make per hour and that equals the amount of money your losing.

But wait ! There’s more…

If at least the result was amazing you could say it was worth it. But the fact of the matter is that if your honest with yourself, you’ll realize that the sofa you tried to create looks like crap and it probably ended up looking amateurish and laughable. Why Because you are not furniture designer. You are an entrepreneur with a whole different set of skills. The problem is that small business owners almost always never see these mistakes. They’re mistakenly proud of their efforts and believe they can check this task off their to do list and move on to the next task. However, when you produce amateurish “Do-it-yourself” marketing efforts, you will undoubtedly leave a bad impression in your customers mind. They’ll be apprehensive about doing business with you and will most certainly gravitate to your competitor who exudes a more cohesive, professional marketing effort.

So why on earth would you damage your company by doing it yourself ? Your job as an entrepreneur is not to literally do everything. Your job is to get the right people on board and provide them with the opportunity to do what they are best at so you and your business can prosper.

Could you do your company’s marketing? Sure, just like I could build a sofa… It would take me an eternity and it would look horrible…

But I could do it.