Virtualizing Your Business: Success Stories & Tactics For SMBs

Many executives have buried their head into the sand during this pandemic – don’t be one of them. 

So the Coronavirus has literally reshaped the global marketplace in America as we have known it.  Although it takes immediate effort, courage and innovative thinking; all businesses today can thrive even especially now and here’s how.

Humans are innately relational creatures. We enjoy the novelty of new experiences but also cherish the dependability and consistency of regular exchanges throughout the course of any given week.
But what has happened with the mandatory and self-inflicted quarantines, is unprecedented.

If fact, many are settling in to potentially a “new norm” of behavior.

As businesses we have the great opportunity, and I may suggest, the moral duty, to not just adapt and survive, but GROW.

There are many business sectors that will automatically benefit from these new, potentially long-standing behavior patterns. For example, anything transportation and shipping related as more and more people chose to order online and have product shipped directly to their home.

Video conferencing services like WebEx, GoToMeeting/Webinar, or Zoom ($69 per share Jan 2nd, to $160 March 23rd) have seen explosive growth since the beginning of the year as people recognize the need to collaborate but also practice social distancing.

Physicians are using video telehealth options such as Zoom, Doxy, Teladoc, or health insurance provided solutions such as Anthem, Humana, or UnitedHealth; to connect remotely with patients and provide care.

That being said there are many business verticals, including yours that many not, at least a first, seem able to capitalize and even thrive on this potentially “new norm.”

First let’s dispel some myths and embrace some truths shall we?

Fiction Vs. Fact
Fiction: Since we’re closed I guess they (meaning your customers) won’t have that need/want anymore
Fact: Sounds silly right? But many have that thought process in mind as they approach their business. Doctors…people will still have pain, in fact because of lessening mobility and more completive time, they will likely have a greater desire for your services now. If your practice is not in a hospital or outpatient you have an even greater advantage. What specific pain or desire does your business sell into as it’s core?

Fiction: Our business needs to have customers/ patients etc come through the door to survive so we should just shut the lights off, layoff our workers, and go home to minimize our costs.
Fact: Just the opposite is true for many businesses. How they service customers may have to change, but this is likely the best time to introduce your brand’s products or services and have them buy. The average commute time is 27 minutes each way in America today, that’s 54 more minutes for them to research and find what they want/need. What sort of things are people searching for online to solve their problem that you might be able to help them with?

For example we have a Vascular Surgery Center client with four locations in Ohio. This client was considering cutting back on Google adwords pay per click advertising considering people are being encouraged to not go out of their home. We looked at the numbers and were surprised to discover that impressions for their ad campaigns doubled, their clicks up 46%, and their cost per click down 11% compared to a normal healthy month. Oh, and there was absolutely no reduction in actual conversions in terms of appointment requests. Net net…not only did people still need their help but they were also searching for it twice as much, were able to talk with 46% more people and achieved an 11% reduction in cost to do it. WOW. (LYV 20200323)

In a completely different vertical we ran the exact same Google smart ads campaign in January as we did for the last two weeks in March and the performance was astounding. No kidding, same ad, same message, same keywords, same landing pages….12.5% CTR at a CPC of $.73 in March compared to 1.63% CTR at a CPC of $3.10; that’s a 766% improvement in click through rate while at the same time delivering that at a discounted rate of 76%. Oh, and yes, where it matters most, conversions; conversions (actual customers) went up by an astounding 320%. (FIO 20200325)

Fiction: My business just can’t be moved online.
Fact: OK so gas stations and Hilton Hotels may have a little bit more of a challenge here than most, sorry group. But for the rest of us, restaurants, retailers, Chiropractors, Psychologists, Dentists, technician based businesses, gyms and training studios, lawn and garden wholesalers, hedge fund and investment companies, software companies, auto dealers can all just about reinvent themselves and their processes to be of service to their current and future customers. In many cases there is a huge opportunity to service those customers with better deliverables and more efficiency than ever before.

No more excuses. Your business was built with blood, sweat and tears. You have too many people depending on you to not only survive but thrive. So here are a few take-aways.

3 Key Take-Aways

1. No matter what business vertical you are in if you aren’t selling something online you are missing out.
2.  Use this time of increased digital impressions inventory, and less competition to reach out to prospects who may not have heard about your brand at an extremely discounted cost.
3. Find a way to offer something of value that you can deliver digitally, either paid or unpaid, to your prospects; then market the heck out of it! Just because you may not be able to render services or even ship the product just yet – get the customer! Better to have them now, allow them to check that off the list and you gain the business now.

Your business can do this, but it takes effort, courage and innovative thinking that requires collaboration with a team of people who have done this before. Although you have talented people who work for you, you don’t have time to “figure this out” yourself with the resources you have.

If you want help crafting a “don’t just stay alive but thrive strategy” – click the consult button, schedule sometime and let’s talk.