Like many businesses, we have been affected by the Coronavirus outbreak. We’ve lost a client and their overdue invoices are most likely not going to be paid. Whilst we are very upset for this small business and everyone involved, this is hugely frustrating for us when the work has already been done, long before we knew the Coronavirus epidemic was going to become a problem here in the UK. We are a small business too - there’s just two of us - and we rely on the income from all of our clients to pay our mortgage and bills.

Over the last 7 days we have had to adapt quickly. Our clients’ scheduled content has been deleted, campaigns have been stopped, photoshoots have been cancelled. The content we planned weeks ago is no longer relevant with a new pandemic forcing people to stay inside and limit social contact. Things have changed fast, and the way people consume things will change too.

As cafes, delicatessens, bars and restaurants are forced to close and cancel their wholesale orders with producers and suppliers, many businesses have had to refocus their efforts on their direct-to-consumer channels. We already work with many of our clients on their consumer marketing channels and have helped them build strong and healthy e-commerce arms of their business. Across many of our clients we have seen an unprecedented amount of orders and revenue through these channels in the last couple of weeks as people go direct to their favourite brands to stock up. People are ordering speciality coffee and artisan clothbound cheddar to see them through this period of social distancing - things that are not necessarily staples - but more luxuries. I mean, if you’re going to be stuck at home, you may as well make it better with your favourite food and drink, right? 

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Businesses are forced to get creative

It’s been interesting watching businesses get creative and quickly change their revenue models. We’ve seen breweries, distilleries, bakers, restaurants and even salons act fast to adapt how their business makes money whilst finding a new purpose in this time of crisis. Breweries are delivering beer on bikes to people’s houses in Bristol, cheese dairies like Quicke’s are launching pick-up stations for local customers to collect their orders, salons are offering paid online tutorials, distilleries are making hand sanitiser and food producers are launching ‘self-isolation packages’ on their websites to help people through this strange time. 

It’s incredibly sad that lots of businesses will be losing lots of revenue and may have to lay off staff, but one thing we hope we will learn from this crisis is the importance of making sure your business is online. Relying on bricks and mortar alone in times like these is no longer enough, and we hope that businesses who perhaps didn’t see value in being online before now understand that resilient businesses are multifaceted, no longer making their revenue from one traditional stream.

If you are a business owner who is struggling to transition from real-world to online, be it selling your existing products online, delivering an online service or offering home delivery from your bricks and mortar business, we are happy to offer a reduced rate to help you transition fast.

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We can help you:

• Get your e-commerce website online
• Design bespoke e-commerce email marketing templates 
• Create content for your social media channels
• Help tell the world about your new project
  

As a small business, we want to help other small businesses to survive in this difficult time, so get in touch and we can talk: hello@altummedia.co.uk

Using this time to get organised

As we move towards increasing time spent inside and working from home, we are seeing fewer distractions and more time to focus on things that we never have time for, or just keep putting off. If you are a business owner, now is a good chance for you to use the time you usually spend actually running the business to do some business housekeeping. Start ticking off the list of things you always say you’d do if you had more time. That time is now, pals. 

By the end of this period of social distancing and working from home you will feel smug knowing everything is completely in check. We’ve made a downloadable and printable checklist for you to gradually make your way through when you find the time.

Simply sign up to our mailing list below and we will send you your printable PDF checklist:

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