How do you promote business right now?

Y’all, these are some weird times for business owners. For the past several weeks, you’ve been thrown a pretty big curve ball in the form of the coronavirus. No matter what size company you have, you’re left asking yourself some pretty hard questions like: How do we keep the lights on? How do we keep paying our team members? How do we adapt? How do we show that we’re sensitive and not out of touch? How do we still stay in business in this new world?

For most of you, knowing the answer to these questions will help you keep food on the table and your employees on the payroll. No matter the size of your company, we’re all working through the same problem: Are we doing the right thing?

If you’ve been feeling the weight of this season, you’re not alone. Business owners just like you are wrestling with these same questions — unless you’re in the hand sanitizer business!

But one of the biggest things business owners are struggling with right now is the topic of promotion. How in the world do you handle business promotions during a crisis like this?

Is it insensitive to keep going about like it’s business as usual? Is it wrong to keep promoting when other businesses have had to close their doors? Does it look like we’ve got our heads buried in the sand if we keep talking about our newest online course, new cookbook, or (insert your newest product)?

You can figure out what to do by considering two things: your customer’s ability and desire to buy (demand) and your ability to serve them (supply).

So, what does your ability to serve look like right now? For example, if your kids are out of school and at home, you might not have the time to focus on your business like you normally would. Likewise, your customer’s ability to buy from you will be high or low in this season, depending on what’s going on.

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