Reboot Your Business

Do you remember at the end of 2019 how we thought it would be really cool to hear Barbara Walters welcome in the new year by saying,
“This is 2020”, the way she did for 25 years.

Little did we know what kind of year 2020 would be, not just in our own little worlds but the entire world.  I’ve seen friends ask if we can go back 6 months and do this over again, but the answer is no, we just need to ReBoot 2020 and your business given the circumstance we have now.

There are some big changes that have occurred in the way businesses operate and yet there are some things that haven’t really changed.

Some call it the differences between tactics and strategies. Wikipedia says:

The terms tactic and strategy are often confused: tactics are the actual means used to gain an objective, while strategy is the overall campaign plan.

In terms of rebooting your business, there are certain tactics that have changed, such as social distancing, or offering curbside pickup for your customers.  Meetings with clients now include video which was a bit on the controversial side 6 months ago or at least cutting edge.

What about the advertising and marketing?  Some of the patterns we saw 6 months ago are continuing while others are completely different.

Broadcasting, the world I work in has seen television’s model having to make some drastic changes while my radio world has been pretty stable for the listeners at least.

On the TV side, they halted production of the network shows and jumped to reruns or come up with a broadcast from home version of many shows which isn’t the same as before.  I don’t know if or when my favorite shows are returning to production.  Meanwhile at my radio station, WOWO in Fort Wayne, we implemented a couple of changes to accommodate our afternoon talk show host who has a weakened immune system due to the anti-rejection meds he is on after having kidney transplant surgery a few years ago.  Pat Miller broadcasts his show from his home every afternoon for the foreseeable future. The host of Fort Wayne’s Morning News on WOWO also did her show from home for 10 weeks since was pregnant with her firstborn.  Kayla did her show live every morning up until her water broke live while she was on the air.  We lined up 8 weeks of fill-in hosts while she is out, but everything on our station sounds normal.

As WOWO radio has experienced a big uptick in online listening as people were now listening from home on their smart speakers and looking at the stats, those numbers are still up there as the travel restrictions are being lifted.

The tactics of listening to WOWO shifted to more devices than just the traditional radio, but the strategy never changed.  We didn’t change our programming or anything like that.  Let’s see how we can apply that to your business moving forward.

Are you going to still provide the same basic services and products as you were before?  That’s the strategy.

Are you offering different or additional ways for consumers to receive your products and services?  That’s the tactics.

Also remember the timeless principles like honesty, fairness, under promise but over deliver. Keep your word and never stop inviting people to do business with you with advertising and marketing.

That’s how you can successfully ReBoot Your Business for the rest of 2020 and beyond.