by charlie hobhouse ~

In just a few weeks, coronavirus – or Covid-19 – has brought the UK to its knees.

For the first time in history, the hospitality, retail and leisure industries have been shut down. The everyday heroes who ensure our lives are full of fabulous fun, extraordinary experience and continuous creativity are now unable to work.

All businesses are having to face really tough decisions, everyone will be changing their business plan (another word for budget cuts), livelihoods are changing dramatically, and everyday there is the worry that one might fall ill. If there was ever a time to try to win new business, this is the worst one could possibly imagine.

However, none of our businesses will survive if we are unable to make sales and here are a few things we are trying to do. If you have any more tips to share please add to these, in a period of isolation, community has never been more important.

Take Control And Get Online

It may seem very obvious, but the first thing to do is get online. We had been talking about our webshop since forming our company, however, due to the millions of other things we were doing we never got it up and running effectively. This is a job that your business can own, it does not rely on any other people, and can really help keep things moving.

Ways to improve your sites visibility are the same now as they were before. Be great on social media, do lots of giveaways and unboxing, and try to be relevant and real with everything you do online.

Look To Your Business Community

Every other business you will know of is in the same situation as you, and as such collaborations are key. Whether you are a large or small business, pushing people to your website is going to be a lot of work. By and large, shoppers want their online experience to be as smooth as possible and so team up with other brands! Create bundles of complementary goods to sell on your website (if you only create one product) it will increase the audience.

Offer Help To Those In Need

As is obvious, this is not the time to outreach to hospitality, travel and leisure. However, it does not mean the people who work in them do not need a lift. Creating giveaways, campaigns to support your community, reaching out on LinkedIn and offering help or free goods to help or distract from the current trauma. It needs to be genuine: a genuine offer or outreach will be appreciated, and hopefully, remembered.

Clean Up The Shop

We have no idea when this situation will end, but the best thing we can do is be ready to strike as soon as it is. Use this time wisely to get your ducks in a row, tidy up and collate all our spreadsheets, plan for a future that we currently cannot see.

As mentioned before, there has never been a more important time for community. We would love to know what other businesses are doing to help through this period. Please get in touch with us if you would like to collaborate, do a giveaway, joint campaign, chew the fat or join in on a Punchy Online Pub Quiz.

Charlie Hobhouse is a founding partner of Punchy drinks – for more information please visit punchydrinks.com