Navigating These Uncertain Times
As of this writing we are seven months into the year 2020. By far the strangest year in my memory, chock full of everything from a global pandemic, resulting in mass unemployment to civil unrest and we’re just a little more than halfway through. A lot of people are asking themselves “What Next…?” as in, “what other unforeseen troubles are headed our way?” They say life is all about perspective and over the years I’ve tried to force myself to look at the glass as being half full.
So today I am asking myself “What’s Next?” as in “what new opportunities are on the horizon?” Over the past few months many of us have been forced to face some hard truths about our future prospects. Ben Franklin may have said it best when he said “When you are finished changing, you are finished” or maybe more commonly popularized by business author Alan Deutschman’s catchphrase, “Change or die.” Back in early March when the COVID-19 crisis started to pick up speed the official national narrative suggested that if we all buried our head under our blankets for a few weeks we would “flatten the curve” and everything would go back to normal.
The Writing on the Wall
Some of us saw the writing on the wall back then, we put together about how to Recession Proof Your Business but even Nostradamus would’ve had a hard time divining the particular set of circumstances that would play out between then and now. Many businesses are struggling to make sense of what has happened and even more are currently asking themselves “What’s Next?” In all reality, things aren’t going back to normal any time soon and a number of great businesses that were forced to close their doors through no fault of their own will never get a chance to open their doors again.
For those of us that are left I urge you to remember that pressure makes diamonds and there are a host of new opportunities on the horizon. Much of the advice that we offered in the aforementioned email above remains true. For many businesses now is the time to capitalize on growing your audience and solidifying brand recognition and embrace all of the available digital tools and channels to interact with your base.
Reallocate, Adjust, But Don’t Abandon
If you can help it, do your best to establish or maintain a legitimate marketing budget. Our clients that made the decision to stay the course with their marketing investments are already seeing substantial dividends. At the same time we have seen businesses around the globe that are having their troubles compounded by loss of business combined with loss of opportunity.
As a business owner I understand that things aren’t always so black and white and that simply trying to keep the lights on may be the order of the day right now. At least in New Jersey we have reached a point that feels like the end of the storm, but may just be the eye of the hurricane. In this moment at least it seems the winds are starting to die down and it’s time to take a breath and plot a course for success in the remainder of the year and for the start of 2021.
Check out Shaun’s blog for a few ideas for moving forward.
Ultimately it starts with asking “what’s next?” If you are having trouble figuring out the answers, let’s set up a call and go through the possibilities together.