💻 Putting Your Action Plan to Work — Webinar and Q&A

[Caitlin_M]

The COVID-19 (Coronavirus) pandemic is changing the way we all do business. There is much we still don’t know about how this situation will play out. As this unprecedented crisis continues to evolve, many small business owners are wondering how to minimize losses, and what steps they can take to protect their businesses. 

As part of our Small Business Support Kit, Constant Contact has been hosting a free weekly webinar series that includes practical advice on putting your action plan to work during this time. You can watch the webinar in its entirety below. Topics covered during last week's webinar included assessing the current situation, adapting your normal operations, and how to market your business during this time. Included is a Q&A session and we've included some of the questions asked during the webinar from our attendees:

We had to cancel a festival and exhibit due to the virus. How much marketing is it appropriate for a non-profit to do right now? Is it good to help our vendors and artists, or is it asking too much of the audience? Both events were free to enter, but the artists and vendors are losing money since the events are canceled.

Think about featuring the artists in your communications and provide links for people to purchase their art. You can also share the artists' stories and talk about how your organization is helping them, which in turn may encourage them to support you when the time is right. 

We are an animal rescue who relies 100% on private donations. So our emails focus on asking for donations with no product to give - just the satisfaction of helping save lives. It is hard to balance sensitivity with our financial needs which are even more desperate now. We are asking something for nothing, and in the worst of times for them. What can we do?

Content and staying top-of-mind right now is super important. While money is tight for many right now, people are still willing to help. Keep people updated about what's happening at your organization: adoptions that have taken place, stories of new animals you're bringing in, short features on your volunteers and how you're helping animals in the community during this time. Let people know how they can help, even if it's sharing a post on social media or forwarding your emails.

We are a B2B and are contemplating a new weekly information and training series for our customers. Is weekly too frequent in this environment?

In many cases no, but it can really depend on your own audience. Start by introducing your plan. Let them know how your weekly email and or training will be available to help them.

If I do not have as great of a social media presence as I would like, how can I get my messages out? I'm worried even if I launch something great, people might not see what I am sharing.

Building a social presence always takes time. We typically find that many small businesses try to do too much on social media with not enough resources. We suggest starting with one social media platform. Try to perfect your strategy and learn what works and what doesn't for your audience before adding other channels. Make sure you're sharing your expertise and helpful information, not just marketing messages to sell something. You can also ask your email subscribers to join the conversation on social media. They're already invested in being on your email list so let them know they can continue the conversation, ask questions, and interact on social media.

Is there value in spending money on showing customer appreciation? We run a camp and it has been canceled for the summer. We don't have a lot of money to spend, but is it worth sending something physical to our families to thank them for sticking with us until next year?

Something physical would be nice, however, it can become very expensive. Customer appreciation comes in many forms. Even if you put together a simple video of your staff thanking your customers and share it on social or through email, that can go a long way.

I'm not sure that I can afford my Constant Contact account right now. What are you offering to those who are in my situation?

We are continuing to evaluate how we can best support our customers during this time. As you are probably aware of now with this board, we have launched a Small Business Support Kit to help our users across many different industries on how to respond and adapt to the new circumstances. Our Billing team is best suited to hear your concerns and we ask that you contact them directly.