Business owners have much to contend with from managing inventory or services, dealing with clients and employees, staying up to date with regulations and so much more. There are no certainties that a spike in demand will occur once things go back to normal after COVID. Our tips and habit suggestions are as follows.

Tip 1: Scaling

We caution against companies going too hard in scaling up operations. Look at options without over-capitalising. For example, if you’re handling fulfillment in-house, there may be a temptation to increase operations and storage to cope with the increased demand. A hybrid drop-shipping model or outsourcing fulfillment is a great interim way to scale up sustainably.

Tip 2: First Party Data

A sea change for online advertising is coming. Google’s industry-leading browser Chrome will stop supporting third-party cookies by early 2022, significantly altering how digital ads are targeted and tracked. Yet, even among knowledgeable digital marketers, there’s considerable confusion about how campaigns will be affected.The coming year will provide a final chance for businesses to educate themselves about the impact of the cookie-less future and to prepare for it. The most important action involves improving access to, and effective use of, their valuable first-party data—and ensure they have a clear plan.

Tip 3: Ad spend

The spike in eCommerce, and a related impact on advertising budget allocations, are both projected to continue. As Amazon, Walmart and other players have attracted more shoppers, they’ve also grown their ad sale businesses. According to eMarketer, advertising on eCommerce platforms jumped 39% in 2020 and will grow another 30% in 2021, capturing 13% of total U.S. digital ad spend.

Tip 4: New realities

Case in point: how many restaurant brands, KFC to Red Lobster, believe the elevated usage of home delivery will persist and are thus investing in operations such as ghost kitchens, which offer pickup and delivery only. Business leaders must be clear-eyed in evaluating their earlier forecasts and deciding whether to continue with related priorities or adapt to unexpected realities.

Tip 5: Measurability

Measurability is helping drive change. According to an April study from Catalyst and Kantar, advertisers believe leading eCommerce sites provide better measurability of ad ROI than many other digital ad types, including social media. Additionally, eCommerce sites know a lot about their customers, which is key to targeting without reliance on third-party cookies.

Tip 6: More brand-to-brand collaborations

Encouraged by successes like McDonald’s partnership with Travis Scott, deep-pocketed marketers will put a renewed focus on celebrity collaborations. We’ll also likely see more company-to-company partnerships, such as Adidas’ collaborations with Lego and Allbirds. Unexpected partnerships between corporate brands capture media attention, generate social buzz and allow for cross marketing to customer bases—without celebrity endorsement fees, all of which plays well in an era of hard-to-capture consumer attention and tightened budgets. For smaller businesses the same collaborations can be undertaken

Tip 7: Social issues

Much has been written about consumers’ increased desire to see companies take a stand on social issues. The three p’s business model –  people, planet and profit –  has evolved as interest crosses generations but is most consistently propelled by Gen Z. Currently 15-24 years old, more of this group is entering the workforce, and their voice will be louder than ever—both as consumers and employees. No previous generation has been as demanding of their employers to demonstrate a corporate social conscience.

Tip 8: Email Marketing

This form of marketing will see an increase as niche consumers are targeted based on their preferences.

Tip 9: Influencers

Community and smaller based influencers who during COVID who built an outreach to their audience will continue to gain in popularity.

Tip 10: Content

This continues to be a crucial component for websites as well as PR and advertising as we move from the information age to the communication age.

Habits to engage in

1. Listen to your employees – their suggestions, ideas can add enormous value to your business.

2. Give them opportunities to be innovative and have a voice. What they may come up with can improve processes, shorten times, develop new products.

3. Acknowledge those that have contributed to helping your company increase profit share, increase in client numbers, quality customer service reviews, new processes and such

4. The setting of daily goals can be done from the CEO down. It is essential to know what you are aiming to do.

5. Time management. It is very easy to have time slip away especially on email. Look at your email first thing in the morning to clear any unwanted emails and deal with relevant.

6. Set a daily schedule on paper or the computer and tick off what you have accomplished during the day. This is positive reinforcement and helps you see what is remaining to see. Don’t procrastinate on things you don’t like to do and leave them to the end as they wont go away.

7. As a business owner its good to have a debrief each morning before employees commence work to keep up to date with what is happening but also to change goals as required. If working across borders set a time that works for all employees.