Coronavirus, currently an unescapable topic, with good reason given the devasting affects it’s had worldwide. However, for those of us trying to keep calm and carry on during the world’s first ever lockdown we are trying to adapt to this new normal and keep our families, jobs and businesses ticking over.
Hence the reason for this blog, we are trying to look to the future with hope and considering how we can make the best of our current situation, using it as the perfect preparation opportunity for when life’s hustle and bustle returns.
Here are some musings from us, which if nothing else, might make you feel a little more positive. As always, if you do like the post, feel free to share and give others on lockdown something to read!
Remote Working
Most of us are now working from home, whether that means you’re set up in a swanky office room, making the most of the sun by working outside or in a makeshift workspace in your dining room. This obviously brings with it some challenges in comparison to your usual working environment, but, and it’s a big BUT, it is also proven to be fostering enhanced communication amongst teams countrywide.
We’re all becoming extremely comfortable with video calling software, like Zoom who reportedly have had more downloads in 2020 so far than in the whole of 2019. Speaking personally for our team, we have been not only utilising the tools we already rely on such as Basecamp and Clockify but are also having a morning group Whatsapp call and are chatting during the day through Skype. We have never communicated this much, even when we were sat in the same room! We also feel like much more of a collective. We’re going through something unsettling and trying to remain reliable and consistent for our clients, so this means pulling together to achieve, which I’m happy to say we absolutely are.
Be sure to thank and praise your colleagues, more so now than ever. People are going out of their way to ensure their jobs get done and businesses don’t go under, so ensure you’re showing your appreciation.
We also recommend a motivational playlist that you and your teams all add to, cheesy 80’s pop to 00’s electro, it’s a talking point even if the tunes aren’t your jam.
Head Space
No not the app but shout out to that too in such an unpredictable time, take care of your self-care people.
On an average chaotic day when can you have a leisurely get up, maybe spend some time making breakfast with your loved ones, stay in athleisure wear and throw in a lunchtime work out if you fancy it? We’re hazarding a guess at not often (if you do, we’re very jealous). COVID-19 is enabling, no enforcing, that we do these things and you know what? A week into remote working, we can confidently say some time spent away from the office and the daily grind is allowing us to increase our productivity and more importantly creativity. We are mapping out what the rest of the year looks like for us in terms of new business and strategies for existing clients as well as making tweaks to how we function internally whilst we have the time and focus to trial things, it’s been great.
To reiterate, we know the virus is likely to be the scariest thing to consume the world in our lifetime, but there have been undoubtable positives that have arisen from us all having to slow down and take a step back. We are all still concerned about the state of the economy and obviously our loved ones too but are trying our best to take things day by day. Try to use this time productively, the scenario we’re all in is totally unique so think of things to be thankful for and each day try to action something that otherwise may get moved to another week, month or never end up being completed at all. Great things come from difficult times, whether you want to use the sense of community as an example or the birth of innovative companies that arose from the recession a decade ago.
Get those positive pants on, we’ve got this.
Digital First
Obviously, we work in digital, so we completely appreciate the value of an online presence and considered, well executed marketing. However, in the current climate this is going to carry even more weight than it previously has. Like we said earlier you have the time now to really think about what could benefit your brand from a marketing perspective. A website refresh? Utilising social channels to connect with your customers? Or maybe, if you’ve never needed to be in the online space before, translate all of your print resources for online use so that you haven’t totally disappeared from your market. We’re all going to have to level up our efforts in order to stay afloat in what is undoubtedly going to be a difficult economic environment. Retail sales in China dropped by 20% at the virus’ outbreak and we’re set to see similar results in the UK so it’s time to…pause for cliché statement… think outside of the box.
If you are struggling to identify what would most effectively give your business a boost, then we are more than happy to help, just drop us a line. Ultimately, right now we are all having to rely heavily on the internet for well, pretty much everything, so if you and your business want to be an option, you need to guarantee you’re visible.
We hope this has been an uplifting read and inspires you to try to frame this epidemic in a more positive light. Keep in touch and take care!
