What to do with free time on your hands

Considering the sudden free time available now (thanks COVID),  it’s a great time to reflect, revamp, and prioritize what you and your business need. Remember those days when you used to sit in traffic, daydreaming about that after-work nap and wondering  “what productive thing could I be doing” while staring at the back of someone’s Ford Focus for an hour? Well, guess what, dreams come true! You now have that time to actually get things done. What now? Well, your first thought could be, maybe I need to take a look at my business and see what I can improve. Or maybe it’s just to take in an extra hour of sleep now in the morning. But where do you even begin? Here are some options…

Try a lil’ internal processes touchup 

Do some of your internal workings feel outdated or bleh? Did you come up with your policies and procedures forever ago and haven’t thought about updating it since? Right now is a great time to take a look at everything, and get you up to date with the new technology and current industry practices. We know, this is the boring stuff no one wants to do, and some might deem unnecessary. Processes are put in place and shouldn’t be changed, right? If you answered yes to that, you might not be getting a rose (we’re still not over the Bachelor, if you can tell). Policies and procedures should be adaptable not only to the environment around you, but new laws put in place too. If it’s super outdated, you could run into trouble of not complying with current laws and regulations, and that puts your organization at risk. Experts say you should review your policies and procedures annually anyways. So take the time to blow off those cobwebs, and give your biz a little more structure.

See what could be freshened up in your Marketing Strategy 

We’re not talking about doing a complete 360 with your whole brand. This is just a look at the small things, like switching up some of the colors in email newsletters, posts, or on your website. Maybe you decide to play around with fonts and see if there’s one that you’d like to try out, or decide to change your layouts slightly to keep your subscribers engaged. Take this time when people aren’t leaving their house to actively shop to reward your loyal customers by implementing a loyalty program to incite online shopping with discounts, exclusive access, etc. Encourage customers to refer their friends with rewards, even! There’s a bunch of little things that can give you that fresh new look or feel you think you need. 

Another great aspect to look at is finding new ways to offer your services to customers. Have you tapped into the right social platforms? While being on all of them isn’t necessary, you might find a great opportunity to try a new one out. For example, we’ve decided Pinterest is a platform with an untapped audience we want to feel out! So you can now find our blogs being posted to Pinterest. If you’re wanting to be more involved in digital conversations, Twitter might be your guy. So while you may be quarantined at home, your digital presence isn’t. Get your name out there in the social media world!

Take time to let your audience know what’s up

We’ve talked about how this easy step can help your business, but it does take a little bit of your free time. Again, think about the time you’re saving walking from your bed to your desk instead of driving to the office. Use this time to talk to your audience in various ways, engage with them, show them you’re still very much active in your community and your marketing and that their presence as a customer or client is still valuable, even if you’re doing everything from the comfort of your home. Comment on Instagram posts from some of your followers, or other businesses in your area, repost their content on your stories to increase awareness, respond to those commenting on your own posts. Maybe even start up a talk show on your platforms and discuss what your business is doing at this time, but whatever you do, don’t go silent.

Research, research, research

Whether you like it or not, industries are constantly changing, especially now. Staying on top of those changes is vital for your company’s success – now more than ever. Luckily for you, this isn’t a hard task. Make a spreadsheet or a list of all your competitors in your industry and take a look at them to see what they’re doing, and compare. Use different tools and analytics systems to identify the direction trends are heading (Google Analytics, Sprout Social, Google Adwords, etc. these are all great tools for this). Pay attention to what people are responding to and what they’re talking about. Find ways to make it easier for your customers to use your product or service. 

Right now tons of services are being digitalized out of necessity. Stores that never thought about having call-ahead services are using them now (even book stores). We’re seeing businesses implementing curbside delivery to accommodate social distancing, hospitality businesses doing house calls instead of doing their services at brick and mortars. They make it as fun and easy as possible with friendly faces and going above and beyond. Have you ever had an opera singer bring eggs and coffee to go straight to your car? No, we didn’t think so. Jax Beach Brunch Haus is offering this service and we’re taking notes.

Read a book on business

Now’s a great time to pick up a book on whatever you want to learn more about. It doesn’t have to be industry-specific, and it can be super empowering. Here are some of our favorites (amd clic…

• Building Your Storybrand by Donald Miller – Easy read in a simple outlined format. There’s a bunch of ideas here on how to create your brand. Everything from why customers make purchases to the most effective messaging for websites and more.
• How to be a Bawse by Lilly Singh – Lots of pictures. I mean, lots. Think of an adult-children’s book. Lilly is wildly entertaining and relatable, and there is so much you can learn from her life situations. And uh, you’ll also laugh a lot. Her tone is hilarious! 
• Jab Jab Jab Right Hook by Gary Vaynerchuk – “You gotta throw some jabs before you throw your right hook.” Think beyond just selling to your audience. Gary goes over how you bring value to your audience and it’s full of good and bad examples of social media posts.
• Extreme Ownership by by Jocko Willink and Leif Babin – Leaders – this one is a must. This book takes you through war stories by Navy SEALs Jocko and Leif and applies them to business situations so you can lead and win in the business world.  

Now that you have some options to keep you busy, have fun with it! Embrace the change around you and seek out how you can grow from it.

 

 

Written by Nicole Bordelon