Pivoting Sales & Marketing in the Coronavirus Situation: 30 Fresh Ideas to Do Just That

What a ride the last month has been. And it doesn’t feel like we’re getting off anytime soon. Some of you may be in your home office, or company office, or maybe you’ve relocated to a desolate cabin in the woods *sigh*. No matter where you are at, we’re sending you wishes for health and happiness and continued prosperity.

We’re also sharing with you this list of 30 (yes, 30!) Fresh Business Sales & Marketing Ideas to Consider During COVID-19 Challenges.

These all come from the team at CP, because if we can’t make masks or ventilators, we still feel it is in our duty to offer our hand where we are able. So we considered how to help our clients or other similar businesses make the most of this situation.

We sat around, coffee in hand, and tossed out all our ideas that businesses or organizations could consider to make the most of this situation and find opportunity in it. We believe our team’s skills are only as good as the good they are doing. That’s why we’re sharing away.

This situation is tough. No matter if it means small or drastic impacts, I know this is affecting everyone. Reach out, contact my personal phone number, and let me extend an ear, knowledge or network to you.

This CAN be an opportunity. My favorite phrase I’ve heard lately-

“Don’t pause. Pivot.”

– is what this list embraces and what we feel is important to remind you.

Have any questions about these ideas or others you’d like to chat about? We’re happy to help you figure out how to implement them.

Download the PDF of this list here.

30 Fresh Business Sales and Marketing Ideas During COVID-19 Challenges

Introduce your sales team in a more personal manner. Have them record a video about themselves and why they love what they do. Or consider recording a video interview with each. Share on web, social, and emails.
Add a chatbot to your website for customers or potential customers to reach you. There doesn’t need to be a person standing by, and these messages can be forwarded to phone numbers or emails as well.
Since you can’t meet up for coffee, send a coffee care package instead- think coffee grounds, mug, coaster, light-reading material.
Missing out on trade shows? Set up your booth and do a Facebook Live or other livestream platform with the booth and allow people to send in product questions. Make sure you have someone moderating the questions!
Create a certification course for a subject that fuels your business or industry. Share your team’s knowledge and increase engagement all-in-one.
Review your sales materials and literature and make sure all are in a PDF or digital format that can be shared via email.
Set up a regular water-cooler or coffee-chat type of conversation (such as weekly or daily at the same time) for customers/audiences to drop in for casual coffee time-type of conversation.
Promote or offer a free consultation– even though you would normally do those anyway- for those interested in talking about prices or knowing more information that can’t stop into your office.
Put together a media library of FAQs in video format and host them on your website and also use as content to share throughout the coming weeks.
Compile a playlist for customers or employees. Think things like “Planting Playlist” or “Monday Productivity Playlist.” Take employee recommendations for podcasts or songs that could be used in each.
What better time to create an employee intranet. Ask employees for recommendations. There are a number of intranet builders out there now that don’t require deep website development and are more turnkey.
Consider livestreams that show a more personal side and connection- CEOs and sales teams, show yourself in your home or on your farm.
Pitch yourself or your company to be a guest on a podcast. You can make a list of podcasts by topic with Listen Notes, a podcast search tool.
Use your audience that may be spending more time at home. Send out a promo package, and ask them to record opening it and tag your business on social media. Great way to start an influencer program.
Utilize your current, loyal customers for testimonials. Use quotes, photos and/or videos with them.
Book a top speaker in your industry or on a topic of value to your audience and provide a (free or fee) presentation via webinar or livestream service for customers to tune in to. Give them value they might not expect.
Connect on a personal level by having employees or customers share what recipes they are cooking/baking with at home.
Start a leadership video series to send out to employees, starting with the CEO/GM/Exec Director. Rally and motivate teams.
Create learning activities or worksheets that even your younger, future customers can use- ag education worksheets, STEM experiments, online coloring contest.
New products this season? Run digital ads- bonus points for videos– about those new offerings.
Amp up those livestreams or virtual presentations by sending useful material prior to, such as product literature, and consider including a gift card- since you can’t take the customers to lunch.
Promote the people that will be taking customers calls or messages. This shows you are staffed and ready to help, but also helps them connect with a face.
Ask customers to opt-in with emails and/or phone numbers to receive up-to-date company announcements or promotions. Put those phone numbers to work with push notifications through your website or via a text messaging system. There’ll be many uses for these after the COVID-19 situations as well.
Consider how your products or services could also be purchased online with an ecommerce addition. Or could any additional services be offered that are purely digital?
Make it easy for customers to access and connect with your support or advisors via mobile support. Check out our friends at AgriSync.
Can your customers access their accounts online or pay online? If so, push that message out again. If not, it might be time to start looking into that addition!
Take advantage of e-signature form signing tools, such as DocuSign, that allow for swift business exchanges and virtual handshakes.
Host a virtual trade show. Not only for your company, but for partner vendors or those in your industry. This could be done through livestream or via a website that hosts a dashboard of participating companies to share more information about themselves.
Are you set up on Google My Business? If not, make sure you do that (quick steps here) and then update your business details as they adjust.
Make sure your sales team is connected- Slack, Salesforce, Pipedrive and many other group collaboration tools allow you to share notes, contacts, images and news.