So, what are the ways creative agencies and freelancers can adapt to these changes?
1) Build solid relationships and trust around your brand.
2) Do everything possible to stay useful and relevant.
Right now, there are novel challenges and concerns for people to deal with. How can you position yourself as a solution-provider at a time like this, while you’re still maintaining your core identity as a brand. This is the time your mission as a business should shine.
Perhaps, some of your products & services are no longer relevant, but then, there should be something you’re existing for, that goes beyond products & services. While keeping that “WHY,” what innovations can you bring into your business in order to stay useful? You may even need to create new products & services.
The importance of this is that after covid-19, only brands that have shown themselves useful and relevant during this period will stand a chance to still earn the people’s trust!
3) Step up your game.
Another strong reason is that by the time covid-19 will be over, only the high class will still have so much to invest in creative solutions and digital interventions. So, are you a service provider in this area? You must start preparing your brand to fit the taste of that class of people.
4) Be more active on your digital platforms.
This is not the time to hide away in some business ideation or skill development exercise. While it’s good to use this period to work on your product portfolio and service lines, you also need to keep your digital front-offices highly engaging. Why? People now spend more time on their devices. That means they will only notice those brands who use digital platforms frequently. Remember that “out of sight is out of mind.”
5) Work on your business structure.
Don’t just be full of skills or team members with skills. Start developing a proper business structure around what you do. Improve on your processes and customer journey. Step up your game in the area of administration, finance, innovation & style of delivery. You may be a solo-preneur or still at the micro-team level, but that shouldn’t stop you from having a structure.
6) Diversify on your services and product lines
The truth remains that some services or product will experience a fatal decline in relevance. If you’re just a freelancer who does only one thing, you may struggle in cases when the only thing you do is threatened by post-covid-19 realites. Start thinking about several other pain-points around what you currently do. And then, start creating packages around them. This is how proper businesses should operate.
7) Leverage healthy business relationships
Don’t build your business as an island. Have a support system – a network of other related brands with whom you have a good relationship. This can mean a lot for your business. Several opportunities can come through that.
Final words
As an agency or freelancer, be quick to sense human behaviours and purchasing habits. No one cares whether you survive now, but you can survive if you really care to help your target audience (and customers) survive. Understand your market and who you’re really competing against. Don’t be a blind player in your own game field. And finally, don’t just get preoccupied with the thoughts of only surviving this period. Also think about remaining standing after the whole pandemic is gone.