6 Ways to Recover Your Small Business In 2022
While the pandemic and lockdown impacted businesses of all sizes, small businesses took the hardest hit in 2020. As a small business owner, you may not know where and how to start recovering from your losses. While there’s no way to predict what’s in store beyond 2021 and into 2022, small businesses need to find a way to stabilize and recover as the world begins to reopen. If you’re unsure about how to start rebuilding, consider the following six post-pandemic small business tips.
1. Make a Plan for Financial Regrowth
The first step to rebuilding your business after the pandemic is to thoroughly analyze your company’s finances. Determining how profoundly the crisis affected your business will help you create a financial plan moving forward. Compare your current financial statements to those from 2019 to calculate how low your numbers have dropped. At this stage, other things to consider include whether you had to lay off employees or cut any budgets for services like marketing. Understanding where you stand financially will help you decide how you’ll fund your business moving forward.
Most small business owners probably didn’t have a large sum of savings to help fund their business during the pandemic. Unless this was the case for you, you’ll likely have to consider other funding options. The U.S. Small Business Administration offers relief options for small businesses in the form of grants, low-interest loans, paycheck protection and other funding options. With limited funds available, you’ll want to consider other options like bank loans and lines of credit for businesses.
2. Invest in Digital Marketing
If you haven’t already invested in digital marketing or had to put it on the back burner to save money, now is the best time to get on board. Investing in digital marketing is one of the best ways to rebuild your business after lockdown. With people spending more time online every day, digital marketing is one of the most effective ways for customers to find your business.
Many small enterprises rely on word-of-mouth advertising or interested customers popping in as they pass a storefront. As businesses continue to reopen, these may become viable options again. However, digital marketing allows your business to reach a much higher number of potential customers. This advantage will be critical in revamping sales to begin making a profit again. Shifting to digital marketing will continue to benefit your business well into 2022 because limited in-person interactions showed everyone it’s possible to do almost anything online. Customers will continue to do business online, which is why you need to ensure your marketing is wherever they are.
3. Build New Revenue Streams
Being profitable from one or two products is challenging to manage. Most successful small businesses have more than one revenue stream, meaning they offer multiple products or services. As you rebuild your business, it’s wise to consider adding new or different revenue streams to your business. For example, some companies pivoted to sell items relating to COVID-19, like masks and hand sanitizer, thus creating a new revenue stream that is relevant to the current situation.
While selling COVID-19 items may not make sense for your business, there are other ways to create revenue streams. Consider the following:
- Maintenance or installation services that show customers how to use your product to make it easier for them.
- Free products like tools that might be necessary for setting up your product.
- YouTube videos that highlight your employees, values and brand, or videos that demonstrate your products or services in action.
- A consultation service for customers who have bought your products.
There are many ways to increase the number of revenue streams your business profits from, and when you’re trying to rebuild your company after lockdown, it only makes sense to look for more ways to earn money.
4. Focus on Rebranding
As you reopen, consider it a fresh start and a chance to make overarching changes. Rebrand your business to have a unique identity. Use your new and existing customer base or gaps within it to help determine what you may have been missing before. Focusing on your unique options compared to your competition can help your business stand out to customers who may be deciding between two products or services.
Rebranding’s overarching goal is creating a brand that earns and retains customer loyalty. Actively engaging in customer conversations online shows your business’ credibility, which is critical in a market where 90% of customers look for authentic brands to support. Loyalty programs are an effective way to encourage customers to stay with you and show how much you appreciate them. To foster customer loyalty, offer rewards for people who buy things and spread the word about your business with others.
5. Build Robust Customer Service
Often, building robust customer service can make the difference between pleasing and losing customers. Responding quickly to concerns or queries is essential to cultivating a satisfied customer base. If you can’t address a customer’s request right away, send them an acknowledgment message, so they know you aren’t ignoring them. Effective customer service will help your small business retain your customer base as you work on rebuilding.
6. Save Time and Money on Necessary Services
As a small business owner, you know how time-consuming your company’s day-to-day operations can be. When you add the time necessary to handle payroll and balance accounts, it leaves you struggling to focus on how to recover your small business after COVID-19. As you reopen, consider outsourcing tasks like bookkeeping to save yourself time and money. Virtual bookkeeping services offer you a better way to manage your resources because you’ll have a professional working for you.
Chat With a Pro at Steph’s Bookkeeping Service
As you rebuild your business to recover from the pandemic lockdown, consider how beneficial a virtual bookkeeper could be for your business. With 25 years of experience working with small to midsized businesses, the experts at Steph’s Bookkeeping Service know how to take care of your business, too. We can assess your needs as you rebuild to manage your books and create a customized financial plan for you. We even offer budgeting, loan and credit services that can make rebuilding easy.
To learn more about our services and how they can benefit your small business, contact us today to request a custom estimate.
