A Guide to Taking Your Brick-and-Mortar Business Online During COVID-19 and Beyond

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By Katie Conroy

Online and e-commerce-based businesses may be a dime a dozen, but the fact is, there are still countless small businesses that have held on to their brick-and-mortar roots without a hitch. That is, until COVID-19 came into the picture. With new rules on social distancing and widespread lockdowns, a great many SMBs that rely heavily on walk-in traffic now find themselves in dire straits.

Thankfully, all hope is not lost. But it does mean that many entrepreneurs must look online for survival. If you suddenly find yourself in that boat, it can be all-too-easy to feel out of your  element. But fear not—so many successfully did so even before the pandemic, there’s no dearth of information to show you the way. Let’s begin.

Why It’s Time to Go Online

First things first—before you can take your business online, it’s important to understand why it’s potentially one of the best decisions you will ever make. The fact is, this actually goes beyond just being a knee-jerk reaction to the pandemic. Rather, for several years now, e-commerce has proven to be advantageous for many businesses as it expands your reach while keeping overhead low—not to mention, it’s easy enough to maintain and execute.

As you move toward taking your business online, you might even find that it’s overdue. But don’t fret; it’s not too late to accelerate your business’ digital transformation, especially given COVID-19’s effect on consumers’ online shopping behavior and habits. Truly, there’s no better time than now to ride the waves of change.

How to Take Your Business Online

You will likely find that taking your business online is quite straightforward. You’re already an old hand at setting up a business (albeit a physical one), so creating an e-commerce version may actually prove to be an easier transition. To dive in, The Balance suggests leveraging some simple e-commerce tools. There is everything from tools to help with naming your domain to simple marketing apps that perform a variety of functions, ranging from customer service to performance reporting.

Probably the most important initial decision you will make is to sell your products through a stable and trustworthy platform. As Let’s Talk About Money points out, not all platforms are created equal. It’s more than prudent to do some research to find a good match for your small business.

How to Achieve Online Success

Finally, as your brick-and-mortar business makes the transition into an e-commerce one, you’ll want to get the word out in a manner that is enticing to consumers. Doing so will not only guarantee that your loyal customers continue to invest in your products and services, but also help new clients find you.

This essentially boils down to having a good marketing strategy, as well as having the right marketing tools in your arsenal. Content Strategy Alliance explains current trends indicate avenues like niche content, vlogging, and content for voice activation should all be on your radar. Along those same lines, for many online businesses, simple email marketing is a great way to touch base with your customers on a regular basis through promotional newsletters and the like.

And of course, social media marketing is just as important—maybe even more so, in certain niches. After all, everyone’s on social media these days, so it’s more than wise to make great use of your social media properties to reach the appropriate eyeballs and, by extension, tug at the right purse strings.

Indeed, it can be argued that offline businesses are not dead yet, but it won’t serve you or your small business to sit still during this current impasse. Taking your products and services online may even spell the difference between death and survival for your small business. You know very well which outcome you prefer, so start your digital transformation today.

The views expressed are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of the Content Strategy Alliance.