COVID-19 has changed consumer behavior in the past few years. Here is how you can reimagine doing business in the future.

Have you thought about how you will come back in a post-COVID world?

My guess is you more than likely have.

If your business is customer-facing, this question is critical. You rely on your customers to be physically inside your business to keep the lights on; your team’s livelihood is at stake, and turning a profit is driving you.

It’s challenging to watch businesses make the devastating decision to lay off or fire members of their team to survive. Last year was messy and challenging, not just for me but for all of us—businesses included. I won’t deny that. I encourage you not to avoid the work of reviewing your re-entry strategy for your business—that could reinvent your business for the post-COVID economy.

Consider this: I’ve worked my butt off, the past few months, launching K M D. And my name looked vastly different. Dragonfly Digital Marketing, my brainchild over the past few months and a HUGE piece of my brand today. But with growth comes change and I am SO excited to reveal all that hustlin’ i’ve been working on behind the scenes. I know this is the right move for chasing my dreams and the vision I am hustlin’ to grow into.

Designing your strategy

There were so many things you did right last year and so many you did wrong. As vaccinations roll out and restrictions loosen, it is time to pivot your business strategy for what your business will look like post-COVID-19.

Here are three questions to ask yourself.

How do you plan to go back to a customer-facing business model?

Chances are that there is a new policy internally for your team, and customers will need to implement it if it has not already been implemented. Your team relies on you and the business to put food on the table and care for their families. While you may still have all your employees, chances are some lost employees this past year for various reasons. Bringing a full staff back may be challenging if the funds are unavailable.

Are you going to need new business customers?

I hope that you have not lost many customers this past year. There is a small chance that you did. To bounce back and sustain a post-COVID-19 business, you are going to need to acquire new business, attract new customers, and redefine your brand.

What does reconnection with your customers look like?

Connection with customers is a significant responsibility. It can either help grow your brand or destroy your brand and business. In a post-COVID-19 world, connecting with your customers will be more important. They are entering a new way of doing business, following a season of life that brought MANY challenges and emotions.

You worked SO hard to build your brand and even harder to sustain your business in the past year. This year should be the year of growth. This growth will cause growing pains, along with the ability to pivot for a greater purpose. We have grieved the world as we once knew it. We are also poised with an opportunity to reenter what we hope is an economy filled with abundance and hope. 

Take some time to think of how you want to connect your brand with your customers, where they walk away feeling you shared similar emotions of the past year with a desire to fill them with hope and security that doing business in person is safe.

The Big Picture to Reinvent

While customer-facing is your business model, that personal connection can’t be replaced online. You can create a strategy and brand TODAY virtually, so you are ready to welcome your existing and new customers back with open arms, high five, hug, or, a smile.

So, moving into 2023, my biggest goal is to ensure that all the work you did last year to sustain your business gets results post–COVID–19 so we all benefit and gain from it.

I understand that not every business needs the same marketing strategy or be on all the same platforms. I DO KNOW you need marketing and strategy that fits your business.

When it comes to creating a post-COVID-19 strategy for how you want to interact with your customers, I encourage you to look at your strategy. What is working, and where do you need support? Being tied to your social media accounts is a mid-level activity that does not serve a purpose to you managing the posts and engagement. It takes time away from the top-level goals that only you can do to get results. If this sounds like you, I hope you reach out to us. We are here to help you fill in the spaces with your business strategy and your hope to do better and prepare for a post-COVID-19 economy.