Over the past several days I have been communicating with clients and past clients about what they can do during this time. It is a question that we all have, and not just when it comes to our business. To do my part, I thought I would share some of the resources that I have come across that can help you keep your business moving forward during this time.
Business Operations Resources
Google recently published an article on the 5 internal principles that they have implemented during this time to navigate through this. Overall, these are practices that every business can enact and it is what many other have been sharing. Above all, communication is key, internally AND externally. Make sure your team, your clients, and your partners know what is going on.
If you haven’t done so already, update your stakeholders and consider sharing updates on social media and/or via email to your clients/customers/partners. Things are changing frequently, so people need to know the latest.
Working Remotely
Working remotely is routine for Holistic Marketing LLC, but for many it is not. Here are some of the tools that we use to keep on track and ensure everyone is in the loop - as a bonus, there are free* versions of all of these!
Google Hangouts/Meet - If you are not familiar Hangouts is an online messaging system and Meet allows you to do video calls and screenshares. Since more people will likely be using these in replacement of in-person meetings, Google recently sent out an update ensuring that it will up its game to ensure there are minimal connection errors during this time.
Slack - Similar to Google Hangouts/Meet, Slack is better for larger groups, it allows you to keep individual conversions about topics more streamlined and you can do group calls. *However, this tool is not free - but there are low cost options.
Asana - A user-friendly project management system that allows you to collaborate with your team, share files relevant to a project/task and more! It is pretty straight-forward, but if you need help let me know!
Google Drive - If you don’t already use Google Drive or even OneDrive, this is an excellent time to start. This allows you to better collaborate with your team and share files. Also, you won’t have to worry about multiple document versions, the updated one is always easy to find telling you when it was last updated and by who.
Email/Text/Call - Keep people informed and productive.
For a more comprehensive list, Belle Communication has created a page dedicated to work from home resources.
Legal & Business Resources
One of my clients, Anthony Law LLC has been dedicated in providing timely information during this time when it comes to Legal & Business resources, for both employers and employees. You can follow along with their updates here.
Additionally, my billing software also created a site dedicated to SMB Help & Updates.
Digital Marketing Considerations
From a purely digital marketing standpoint, not much has changed. Keeping your community informed is going to help during this time and beyond. If you do suddenly find yourself with some free-time because of the restrictions, focusing on website items that you have been delaying or pushing off will help once we get out of this.
If you had an event scheduled, Google released an update to how to label your events as “virtual”, “postponed”, or “cancelled”, you can learn more about this update here.
I intend to update as I find additional resources, as well as providing tips during this time, so feel free to subscribe to stay in the loop. We can get through this together!