Lately, we’ve had a lot of clients freaking out that their current offers aren’t selling thanks to COVID-19. Subscriptions, services, online courses, products, all that jazz. 

And these clients are all saying different versions of the same thing: Maybe I should just ride this out and come back to the biz when things are better.

Pardon our French, but that’s fucking dumb.

You’re probably thinking, “Wow, Uncanny Content, tell us how you really feel!” But we never pull our punches, and the coronavirus isn’t gonna change that now.

Because here’s the never-ending truth about business: you snooze, you lose. Your people might not be buying right now, but they are still consuming. At exponential rates. Parents at home with kids, salaried employees working remotely, even fellow business owners navigating the same shit you are. 

Are you just gonna go dark? No. That’s not what this time is for. 

We’re not saying put yourself out there and promote your biz non-stop because yuck, that’s sleazy. We’re not saying you can’t take time for yourself to recover and reflect, because we are huge advocates of mental health and self-care. 

But if you want your business to come out of this swinging, you’re gonna need to do the work. Probably before COVID-19 leaves us all alone for good.

What does that entail?

Show up on social more

Your people are on social media. Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Reddit: your people are online right now. They’re sharing COVID-19 resources, giving each other words of encouragement, or posting coronavirus memes to add a little laughter to the mix. 

You need to be online, too. Have a plan for regular posts that are a mix of value, comic relief (if on brand), and how you’re supporting your community. Testimonials can still be used to build trust in your audience and remind people of what you offer.

Craft content that speaks to your audience

Craft content for now, and content that you can stick in your back pocket for later. 

Quick case study: we have a client who is a financial planner and sells a unique budgeting system. While not everyone is set on buying her budgeting system now, they do have free time on their hands. So she’s sharing content about how to actually look at your budget during quarantine, and helping answer questions about the market. She’s sharing content that her audience wants and values right now. 

Also, one of her videos is hilarious:

Meanwhile, we’re pushing her financial planning firm tax content back to July (given the extended deadline) and preparing more evergreen content about how to weather a recession, how to panic-proof your income, stuff like that.

See? Content for now, content for later.

This is what we’re doing with all of our clients: assessing what’s going out for relevance and making sure that we’re also creating content for when the dust settles. Things might be slow on the client- or customer-facing side, but they’re not slowing down on the biz-side.

Diversify your content 

We’re talking social posts on the platforms your people use the most, rather than just the one you prefer. We’re talking emails, ones that hit them where they live and don’t just say you’re having a fire sale. 

We’re talking videos for YouTube, Instagram Live, or Facebook Live. We’re talking podcasts if that floats your boat. 

Share something of value in your content. Now’s a great time to offer support to other audiences by pitching to podcasts, publications, etc. (contact us for our pitch template, it’s free but only for you because you’re awesome), or by starting your own podcast. 

Create opt-ins and downloads. People are home and looking for shit to do: give it to them. Just make the content you know you’ve always wanted to create, but haven’t had the time.

Re-evaluate your offers

Sorry, friends, but times change. Markets change. Audience needs change. 

We can’t say this enough, but you have to re-evaluate your offers. If your offer is something that only worked in the pre-COVID world (like party games that require you to rub noses with your neighbor), you are gonna have to rework it. And that doesn’t mean changing it entirely or scrapping it all together. 

Read that again: rework it.

How can you make what you’ve already got into something that meets people where they are now? Is your course about building a graphic design business all about getting in precious facetime with clients? Well, rewrite that module to talk about the OTHER FaceTime. Zoom. Google Hangouts. Bring it online. 

We understand that this doesn’t work with every business, product, or service. This is generalized. Remember, we’re a content agency and not a product development agency. Just trying to tell you how you can edit content that’s salvageable. You’re gonna have to do most of the research and the work.

Be human first, business owner second

We shouldn’t have to remind you of this, but we’re doing it anyway. We’re all dealing with a pandemic, an economic slowdown, and a looming recession. (Which could turn into a depression, who the fuck knows.) 

Right now is not the time to be panicking over your sales numbers. Hunker down and do what you can to make your business stronger. And if you don’t have the time or the energy, we might be able to help. Contact us.