Throughout the Portland area, many businesses have temporarily closed their doors to help slow the spread of COVID-19. The fact that your doors are closed does not mean that you should stop advertising. Your advertising efforts throughout this time can help your business successfully navigate this temporary closure. If your business is temporarily closed due to COVID-19, consider these advertising ideas to keep your customers informed and your business top-of-mind until you are able to reopen your doors.
1. Inform The Community About Your Closure
Whether your business is fully closed due to the pandemic or you’ve adapted your business operations, it's a major change for both your business and your customers. Ensure that you are running ads that will help keep your customers informed on how they can continue to support your business. Consider:
Repurposing past creative. Reusing your past creative will allow you to quickly put out a new ad with new messaging in regards to your business’ changing operations within your community.
Using your social media accounts to spread your reach. Your social media pages can help inform your customers of your latest business updates, when you plan to reopen, and how they can still do business with you even if your doors are temporarily closed.
2. Say 'Thank You' to Your Customers
Your customers are a vital part of your business. Use this time to create an ad that will acknowledge the importance of your customers and the role they play in your business by thanking them.
Consider using past images and videos to help create a new ad that showcases your customers. This is an affordable and effective way to keep advertising during a time when you might not have the ability to create new commercials and digital ads like usual. Right now, many brands, including big names like State Farm, are incorporating staff and customer-generated content in their ads. This embodies a sense of community with your customers by bringing a more personal touch to your ad.
In addition to using past creative for TV ads, post it across your social media pages and include it in your customer newsletters. Ads that are centered around thanking your customers can provide normalcy while also helping to keep your business top-of-mind while you may be temporarily closed.
3. Offer an Encouraging Message
Have yourself and your staff record a message from home to use in your next ad. This is an opportunity to encourage your customers and the community during a stressful time. Let your customers know that you’re all in this together and you're still supporting them.
Your ads are a great way to communicate your future plans to your customers while remaining hopeful and encouraging them to do the same. For example, Honda’s Working Together ad is an encouraging message of working together towards something greater. During a time that most people are at home watching their local news, an encouraging message in a commercial can help bring positivity to your audience.
4. Share Tips and Tricks
Consider how you can still be of service to your clients, even if you aren't currently open. For example, salons and spas are giving tips to their clients on how to manage at home while they're between services. Your customers may still need many of the things you usually provide, even if you can't currently provide them. Look for ways to provide those key tips and tricks.
Consider utilizing the live video features on social media and where you can share these tips and tricks directly with your customers. For example, a family counselor who can't have in-person sessions could construct a blog post, email, or film a short video that gives tips on how to manage with the whole family at home. Take the knowledge you have in your area of expertise and create content that will be valuable to your customers during this time, and beyond.
During your temporary closure due to COVID-19, it's incredibly important for your business to continue advertising. The advertising efforts you make now will help ease the lift for your business when you’re able to resume normal operations.
