If 2020 is anything to go by, then the answer is going to be YES!
The business stratosphere as we know it isn’t the same anymore, which means that the way we conduct B2B marketing and communications also needs to be revisited. The CBD and other surrounding business districts of our major cities have become ghost towns (for a number of reasons), and we know that corporate spending and the days of a boozy long lunch for the entire team are likely long behind us.
2020 hasn’t been kind to many companies, and we expect that it’ll be some time before things are back to where they need to be. Many people have been made redundant, roles are now able to be done remotely and work meetings and conferences are all being facilitated online.
We expect this new business model to stick around, so you should too. Especially with large companies like Facebook stating most employees will continue work remotely until the end of the year. Though it expects its offices will open for a small number of employees starting in July. Initially, offices will only allow about 25 percent capacity because of social distancing guidelines, Zuckerberg said.
EOFY isn’t the only major spending event that’s also going to take a hit. We’ve all noticed the downward trend of the Melbourne Cup over the past few years, which has been progressively attracting heightened levels of controversy (and for good reason). This can largely be attributed to concerns over animal cruelty and the resultant growing number of younger Australians beginning to conceive of the race as distasteful. Several prominent celebrities bowed to public pressure and chose not to appear at last years cup, plus we know that there are a lot of companies who’ve introduced a policy of no booze on company time too -to avoid misconduct in the workplace.
So, how and what can you then do to engage with your corporate customers and demographic right now? Well here a few tips and tricks we recommend implementing!
- Engage with your customers, and ask them what they’ll be doing this year. It’s important to check what it is that your customers want, and there’s no better way to do that than by asking them directly. Long gone are the days when companies had to invest in big name market research firms to find out what their customers wanted. Today there are a plethora of online tools that allow you to easily create your own survey and disseminate it to your email database or share via your social channels.
To ensure your survey has a high response rate and is therefore useful to your business you may want to include an incentive to participate such as offering a small discount. Collecting data this way will enable you to create content and services that directly align with the needs and desires of your consumer base and consequently help increase your social media’s engagement and help put your posts in front of more people! It also means your segmenting your database too and are sending out messages and offers that appeal to that demographic! If you’re looking for a fantastic system to use, we recommend the team at MyGuestlist
- Promote gift vouchers and look at a group discount and bulk buying offer for businesses. Vouchers are a great way to boost morale and incentivize, recognize and reward team members. By doing this, not only are you getting your business and brand in front of more people, but if they like your product, service or offering you’ve just nabbed yourself a few new customers which may purchase vouchers for others, and that’s not a bad way to attract a new client base don’t you think??
- Have delivery options available. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that we can all use technology to our advantage to help us pivot our business structure and adapt to new circumstances. House Of Pocket for example. During the lockdown and isolation, this group created a whole new offering and helped pioneer cocktail delivery in NSW. This is a product and feature that will remain in place, and was a saviour for many stuck at home during iso.
- Do you know exactly what percentage of buildings around you are residential? Are there services apartments nearby, hotels or student accommodation? Do your research and take a look who your neighbours are and see if you can’t create an offer or discount to get in their hands. There are plenty of new developments popping up everywhere and are you someones new local or go to? Look at an old school letter box drop (yep, these things still work well), target your adds to the local community, join a local Facebook community/ postcode group and chat with hotel and building concierges. Hit the pavement, go for a walk and do a little recon. You might have a bunch of customers under your nose, you’re not even engaging with!!
One of the biggest pieces of advice I can give you coming out of these lock-downs, is that you need to be prepared to pivot your business and partake in “outside of the box” offers, products and review your current offering and business model. It may longer be relevant and you need to accept that!!
If you’re in need of some further insight, support or a strategy session to help you achieve your goals right now (or set some new ones), then book in a call with me now! Let’s take a look at how we can target your communications, provide offers that work and see what we can do to assist you in this new and very uncharted space and territory.
Taking action will save you now. Burying your head in the sand.. not so much!!
Until next time, go forth, kick arse and do ALL the things!!
Chrissy & The CLS Team