How to Have Marketing Success During and After a Pandemic, 5 Ways

By: | May 24, 2020 | Tags: , |
Types of entrepreneurship

There are four types of entrepreneurship.

Do you know what they are?

All four types of entrepreneurship can benefit from these marketing strategies.

Here is why:

All entrepreneurs are affected by the Coronavirus.

All entepreneurs will continue to feel the effects after the Coronavirus shelter-in-place restrictions lift.

All entrepreneurs need to know how to change their marketing strategies now and after the pandemic.

This post offers B2C marketers (Business to Consumer) 5 ways to change their marketing practices now and after the crisis passes.

Successful entrepreneurs know how to change with the times. They adapt their marketing practices to current trends.

By the time you’re done reading this post, all types of entrepreneurs will know how to market during and after the Coronavirus.

Make sure you stay to the end of the post to discover which types of businesses won’t survive the pandemic.

Let’s dive in.

In May of 2020 I attended a virtual conference of business owners.

At the Business Owner and CEO Power Conference, types of entrepreneurship were discussed. This post will share those findings.

A participant noted that there is little support for entrepreneurs. This post seeks to provide that support.

All marketers are affected regardless of types of entrepreneurship.

Types of entrepreneurship

As you can see from the image, I asked entrepreneurs on Instagram if their business is affected by the Coronavirus.

100% of the entrepreneurs who responded said “yes” within the first 31 minutes that I posted the poll.

The bottom line is due to people being out of work, they don’t have the money they used to have to pay for items and services marketers might sell.

Even if they did, people’s priorities have changed.

Does this situation resonate with you? Has your business been affected by Coronavirus?

Here’s what you can do:

The solution offered in the group was to become a thought leader in your niche. Show you are an expert. Spread your message now. You can use social media sites for example. Then, people will remember you when the crisis passes.

The Adage blog agrees. Extending the continuity of your brand is vital at this time.

Let’s look at how to apply those important strategies to different types of entrepreneurship.

How to Market During a Crisis

Acknowledge the crisis

If you don’t acknowledge the crises, you will appear insensitive. Genuine empathy is needed. Now is not the time to appear salesy.

Change Your Marketing Strategy

Your competitors are acknowledging the crisis and changing their marketing strategy. You should as well.

Should you extend your reach?

No. According to experts, you should focus on your current list subscribers. According to the 538 Podcast, “Now is not the time to be exchanging business cards.” In other words, don’t branch out at this time.

Now is not the time to exchange business cards.

Should you change your target audience? Many have. For example, while people quarantine in their homes, sales of liquor, cannabis, and pets are up.

Many marketers have changed their marketing tactics to appeal to a new audience of potential buyers.

The conference moderator, Blair Nicole, predicts all types of entrepreneurship will cut prices.

According to Blair, there are 4 types of entrepreneurship.

As you read the 4 types of entrepreneurship, determine which category you fall into.

Types of Entrepreneurship

Type 1: High Demand and Easy Delivery

People need and want the entrepreneur’s product or service.

Furthermore, they can easily get it.

Do you fall into this category? Here’s what you should do:

Remind people how you’re continuing to help them. For example, you can share your message on social media.

There are many advantages to using social media for business. Reminding people you’re still out there by connecting with them on social media sites as you wait for the crisis to pass is one of them.

Type 2: There is a low demand for your product but people can get it easily.

Blair offered cars as an example. People may not be able to afford them during Coronavirus layoffs.

Medium’s Phillip Stutts agrees the Coronavirus is changing consumers’ buying habits. “American consumers are no longer buying for ‘want’ — they have converged to primarily buy for ‘need’.”

Do you fall into this category of producing goods that entail discretionary spending? Here’s what you should do:

Be a thought leader on social media.

You can also email your list. Have you stepped up by helping the community? Let your readers know.

Sounding like you’re tooting your own horn may be preferable to sounding opportunistic.

Share these activities on social media as well.

In your emails and in your social media messages, share your messages of hope.

You might also share medically correct information. Have you heard of “Plandemic?” Apparently, people are posting wrong information on social media. They are sharing the opposite of what we know to be true in videos.

In other words, people are sharing that going outside and avoiding masks will help avoid catching the Coronavirus.

Type 3: High Demand for your product but difficult delivery.

You fall into this entrepreneur profile if people can’t currently get your product. Restaurants fall into this category.

Did you hear the restaurant Soup Plantation is closing? Soup Plantation is a staple in my community.

Do you fall into this group of marketers? Here’s what you should do:

Stay engaged by showing you are a thought leader. Share your beliefs and values. You don’t have to change your brand just because the world around you is changing. Stay the heart, the core, of who you are.

Type 4: Low demand and difficult delivery

Sporting events fall into this category. Does your product or service?

Here’s what you should do:

You guessed it: Share your thought leadership. Continue to show you are an expert in your industry until the crisis passes.

More Tips for Different Types of Entrepreneurship

Many entrepreneurs are pivoting at this time which may require creativity. This might include changing your target audience.

For example, distilleries are producing hand sanitizer whose sales are skyrocketing at this time.

Can you imagine a way you can pivot now?

Types of Entrepreneurship That Won’t Survive

Based on this post, the future sounds pretty rosy for all types of entrepreneurship.

However, that may not be so.

According to Stutts, these four industries won’t survive the way we know it after the pandemic scare lifts:

  • Restaurants
  • Brick and mortar retail shopping
  • Commercial real estate
  • Social media in its current form-– people bragging about how great their lives are.

Wrapping Up: Types of Entrepreneurship

In closing, this article explained how to be a successful entrepreneur and make money during and after the Coronavirus.

Important takeaways from this post:

  • Be a thought leader. People need a strong community leader during a crisis to give them guidance.
  • Be online. This is especially true for marketers with products that are in low demand or hard to come by at the moment. Use social media sites to spread your message.
  • Be sensitive. Don’t assume people have the funds or the desire to buy your products or services during the crisis. Their minds and wallets might be elsewhere. Don’t confuse marketing and selling. You can market by making connections online. However, trying to make a sale at this time could appear “spammy.”
  • Be flexible. Just like restaurants that closed their brick and mortar stores and switched to take-out only, try to find ways to pivot.
  • Be focused on your brand’s current strengths. Don’t try to extend your reach now.

Don’t confuse the advice against sounding “salesy” with the advice to continue to market.

You can profit during the Coronavirus as long as you don’t profit FROM the Coronavirus.

Which type of entrepreneurship do you fall in? How is your blog or business acknowleding the Coronavirus? I look forward to your views in the comments section.

Please share so other entrepreneurs read these marketing tips for marketing during a pandemic and during any crisis.

Related Reading: This post was about how the Coronavirus and similar crises affect entrepreneurs. Click here if you want to read how the disadvantages of teleworking affect employees who now must work at home.

  1. Bella X

    Janice
    I really do not know just yet how my business will be after the lockdown is lifted in July. I am keeping my fingers cross and hoping for the best. I do hear companies deciding to close shop especially restaurants due to no travellers. Mine is really hit hard as it has to do with tourism. I cannot just say yet how it will be in few months time.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Bella,
      I’m in California and not sure when the lockdown will lift here. Where are you?
      I was just telling another commenter that one of my favorite restaurants is permanently closing. They couldn’t make the transition to delivery since they were buffet. I’m sad as I liked the restaurant. The end of an error.
      Janice

  2. Amit Garg

    Hi Janice

    You have explained types of entrepreneurship very well.

    Being into business of footwear including PPEs, It’s been now two months I have not dispatched any material.

    Hopefully, things would be better in the month of June.

    Thanks

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Amit,
      I Googled PPE. You wrote you haven’t sold in a while. Do you sell online?
      Thanks for commenting.
      Janice

      • Amit Garg

        Hey Janice

        Though I have listed my business on Indiamart, but most of the business comes from the offline customers (Automobile Companies)

        Thanks

  3. Arjen

    Hi Janice, good read. I fully agree with your statement to not profit ‘from’ the virus. I think this pandemic asks a lot of creativity from business owners, turning the way they earn money all around. Here in Amsterdam for example, restaurants that weren’t delivering food, are massively connecting to food delivery services. They have to adapt to stay profitable.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Arjen,
      It’s the same in the United States. Restaurants are now delivery-only.
      Yes, they have to be creative to adapt. Since the virus, in addition to the other criteria for being a good marketer, they now must be creative too to pivot to survive. One of my favorite restaurants couldn’t successfully adjust and announced its impending closure.
      I appreciate your compliments on my post and for reading what I wrote.
      Janice

  4. Franklin

    The part about maintaining the current customers during the pandemic is very true and enlightening as a marketing strategy. Also communicating values to customers and being a thought leader are always underappreciated, especially in marketing. The blog was overall informative.

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Franklin,
      Thanks for reading what I wrote and writing to tell me you enjoyed the post and found my tips valuable.
      Janice

  5. Piyush Mathur

    Customers are god and maintaining them and fulfilling their needs during this pandemic is necessary.Such an insightful knowledge you’ve shared. You have explained entrepreneurship very well.
    Looking for Digital marketing training institute in Gurgaon, take a look here -https://www.digitalmathur.com/digital-marketing-training/

    • Janice Wald

      Hi Piyush,
      Thanks for the compliments on the post. What you wrote is true: if you don’t fill their needs, they’ll be gone.
      Janice

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