NEIGHBORS HELPING NEIGHBORS
As a way to give back to Houston area businesses, Marketing Depot is here serve you for FREE for the next 30 days.
100% FREE OF CHARGE!
Hi I’m Sherry With Marketing Depot. Right now I know you may be feeling helpless or hopeless. Today I want to tell you, you’re not alone and you’re not unsupported. I want to offer a little hope, positive energy and together create ideas to bring revenue in your “virtual” doors.
As a way to give back to Houston area businesses, my team and I are here to serve you for FREE for the next 30 days. 100% free of charge! If you have an out of the box idea to continue business or revenue but you don’t have the digital skills or expertise to implement, we want to help – for free! No strings attached no credit card, just good old-fashioned neighbor helping neighbor during the worst possible time. You need an e-commerce page? We’re on it! Need credit card processing added to your site? We’ll do it, for free! Need help setting up a social media page? We’ll do it and teach you how to use it. I don’t want one business to miss a sale because they didn’t have the knowledge or the money to implement a digital solution to their problem.
In my blog post below,I highlight a few entrepreneurs who are thinking outside the box to bring money in, while practicing social distancing.
If you have an idea but don’t know how to execute – call us we’ll set it up for you and and teach you for free.
Need help with an idea to continue working? Fill out the form and we’ll will call you and brainstorm together for free!
The best way to stop feeling helpless is to be helpful! We’ve been marketers here in Houston for over 25 years and we want to help. I hope the blog offers you a few ideas and ways to think outside the box. Don’t let a lack of knowledge or ability hold you back. From our the bottom of our hearts, our team is offering you solutions, at no cost to you. Let us be helpful to you so that you can be helpful to your customers who are waiting for you! We look forward to serving you!
How Your Business Can Make Money During A Mandated “Non-Essential” Business Closure
I know this is a crazy, stressful and emotional time. A crisis that no business owner could ever imagine or plan for. As a leader, an employer and a person who’s responsible to keep the lights on and put food on the table, it is our task to figure how to make money today.
If you’ve found yourself asking questions such as:
- How can I make money when customers aren’t allowed to come into my place of business?
- How can I talk to my customers, or sell things online when I don’t know how?
- How can I start making money fast?
- How will my business survive Covid-19 shutdown?
Then you’re on the right page and maybe we can help you brainstorm! There are a lot of businesses that are altering how they go to market so they can still bring money in. Let’s be real, it’s not the same level of revenue as before Covid-19 and forced business closures, but any money coming in is helpful to saving your business and recovery after Covid-19 has long since passed.
Instead of Think Outside the Box – Let’s change it to Think Outside the Doors of Your Business:
How do you stay in compliance with the non-essential business closure, but still make money? Think outside the doors! Many companies were in a sweet spot because the had shifted their focus to online already. But other companies have found themselves ill prepared to do business in a digital climate. Forced Business Closure has created an entirely different level of creativity, requiring business owners to think of ways to bring in revenue but without exposing their clients or employees to community spread of Covid-19.
Here are a few examples of business industries who have gotten creative and adapted their business model to bring in revenue during a time when it feels impossible to make a living or keep their doors open.
Restaurants
Many restaurants were first to adapt outside the door thinking by creating the pop up drive-throughs. Many are sit-down restaurants but are staying in compliance and creating some revenue by adding pop-up drive through lines. These restaurants that want to add a level of social distancing can add online ordering and pay online to their websites. This will remove at least two potential points of contamination. First, the payment process and second at the point of signing. Not to mention online ordering and payment would add a level of timing for food delivery and add speed of service by not having to wait on the processing of the credit card.
From a marketing stand point, those restaurants that already have order online, pay online should take to social media, email marketing to uptalk their contamination prevention strategies as well as highlighting order online, pay online as less touch points and eliminating the potential of community spread.
Tools:
- Ecommerce tool
- Credit Card processing tool
Beauty Salon / Aesthetician
Today I got a delivery of my very own DIY hair color from a hairdresser. Seriously! A friend referred me to a hairdresser who is thinking outside the door! I took 3 pics of my hair and she’ll mix the formula for me, I Venmo her the payment and I’ll receive my perfect color formula on my doorstep. No, she’s not making the same money if I arrived in her salon but at least she’s getting creative and making some money. Also, truth is, I’m happy with my hairdresser and probably would never have tried this lady. But she is my kind of entrepreneur and when this is all over you can bet, I will pay her an in-store visit. Not to mention when I post my DIY hair color on social media she will probably have a few more new clients she did not previously have access to. Outside the door thinking opens new opportunities to new people. It’s about solving our customers problems.
Tools:
- Phone
- Venmo, Paypal, Zelle
- Car
Aestheticians can offer virtual non-face-to-face consultations and recommend whatever products really will work for the client. Use tools like, Facetime, Google Hangouts, Zoom, WhatsApp. Ask for a Venmo, PayPal, Zell payment. If you’re a shop owner and have an inventory of product add an ecommerce page to your site and offer pay online with shipping or you swing by and do in person doorstep delivery. If you don’t have products find affiliate links on Amazon and provide the Amazon link to your product recommendation and make residual money.
Tools:
- Phone: FaceTime, WhatsApp, Google Hangouts
- Venmo, PayPal, Zelle
Gym Equipment / Personal Training
One of my favorite creative out of the door thinkers is a gym equipment store offering at home all you need package for $99. Promoted solely on Instagram, with Venmo payment and backseat equipment delivery. Yes, this owner would for sure rather have his normal customer base walking around the fitness center looking at the high-end at home gym equipment. But he’s getting a lot of people with personal trainers and gym memberships looking for a cheap at home solution. This owner is reaching far more people today than he was before Covid-19 shut down all the gyms. He’s not making as much money, but he’s found a way to make some money while other businesses are completely shut down. Last, this business owner is creating a good database of people who are most likely to work out and are his perfect target. This owner is likely to generate repeat business because he solved problems and grew his database of his perfect target market and can continue to market long after the pandemic has ended.
Tools:
- Ecommerce website
- Credit card processing
- Database collection software
Dance Schools / Karate / Personal Training
These types of businesses have a great opportunity to join online. Schedule a class on a standard schedule and have your clients meet you online. Nothing is better than letting your kid burn off a little steam and tire them out before they start asking for their next round of snacks. Make the class general for full family. People talk and share resources so ask your clients to tell their friends to join in free of charge. It’s a great way to give back to the community and create a database of potential clients in the future. You can even create a donate now on the sign up page. People want to reciprocate payments for a little diversion for the kids.
Tools:
- Phone with Tripod – (or friend with very strong steady arms)
- Multi Person Connection software like: Google Hangouts, Zoom, Facebook Live, Instagram Live
- Invite page on site for database collection -add donate button: Venmo, Paypal, Zelle
There are so, so, many other examples of businesses that have the opportunity to think outside the door and keep revenue flowing even if we have to work harder and not make as much as they did in the “good old pre-Covid-19 days”. This too shall pass and businesses that are proactive now, will find themselves in a much better place as our economy and marketplace rebounds.
We’ve been helping clients for over 24 years at Marketing Depot. We’re used to thinking out of the box and creating new solutions. We want our friends and neighbors in business to survive and overcome this terrible business interruption. If you have an idea but you don’t know how to implement it, give us a call or fill out the form below. We’ll help you brainstorm solutions to keep money flowing in and help you with the technology to implement it. When possible, we’ll even do this for you at no charge. This is our way of giving back when our suffering community.
Let’s brainstorm together and come up with ideas to keep Houston and the surrounding areas working, while still practicing social distancing and eliminating the risk of community spread.
Post your thoughts or challenges below and we’ll answer!
Want to know about what we’ll do for free? Click here: Free Outside the Door business solutions
