Creating Sites in the Pandemic, does it make sense? Because this is the best time to invest in digital
Throughout the COVID-19 pandemic, organizations around the world demonstrated remarkable agility, changing business models literally overnight: creating remote work arrangements; shifting entire business processes to less-affected geographies; initiating multi-company cooperation to redeploy laid-off employees in all sectors, as well as creating a website or improving it in the pandemic.
The ability to embed quick and agile decisions into company cultures is equally important through crisis recovery.
But managing in this new and unfamiliar environment demands more from leaders, who need to act quickly to save their business.
Substantial changes in society, its institutions and individuals during the crisis introduced great uncertainties into our family structures.
Assumptions about what is true and stable – for example, the freedom to move through society without restrictions – were defended.
These changes have resulted in major shifts and new uncertainties about the fundamentals of business and society that resilient leaders must address.
If your business was local and if you even had a website, but just to “be” on the internet, it's time to think: does creating a website now in the pandemic make sense? It's because? See what we have to say on this subject:
look inside out
Given market uncertainties, companies relying on conventional wisdom may find that the world they knew and were used to is no longer there.
And how leaders created plans in the past may not be relevant anymore, especially if they were internally focused.
However, the shift from response to recovery requires a mindset from a functional, internal vision to a stakeholder-focused, results-based orientation.
As we move into the recovery phase, resilient leaders will seize the opportunity to grow and change.
Having built and integrated new attitudes, beliefs, agility, and structures into their organizations' DNA, they will not only regain lost ground, they tend to evolve.
set destination
Resilient leaders start by anticipating what success looks like at the end of the recovery phase – how their business will prosper in the long term – and then guide their teams in executing a set of results-based actions to get there with agility.
Setting the destination first and working later will help leaders create more aggressive and creative plans.
Having the leadership team envision a successful end state is emotionally empowering, freeing you from the constraints of the present.
Trust as a catalyst
During the recovery phase, resilient leaders need to inspire their teams to navigate uncertainty. But great leadership requires an even longer following – and that's fueled by trust.
While some might think of trust as an abstract and ethereal concept, it is actually quite tangible and essential to reaffirm stakeholder relationships throughout the recovery.
Research shows that trust delivers real results in terms of economic growth and shareholder value, greater innovation, greater community stability and better health outcomes.
Trust is nurtured and built among stakeholders in four different dimensions: physical, emotional, financial and digital. The pandemic has heightened stakeholder sensitivity in these four dimensions, which offers greater opportunities to take action to build trust, or lose it.
aim higher
Sociologists have observed many crises throughout history demanding massive sacrifices from a citizenry that responded by putting the community ahead of itself. Leaders led, and people trusted them.
As a new social contract was created, people overcame challenges once considered insurmountable – and used each crisis to elevate themselves and their nation.
That same potential exists today. Returning to a world that existed before COVID-19 would mark failure. We must all expect more.
We have the chance to use what we've learned over the past few months to inaugurate a new and better normal.
The key to this – exercising resilient leadership – is the ability to energize our teams by looking outside, imagining a successful future and embracing the confidence to get us there.
Why would creating a website now be interesting?
With the COVID-19 pandemic making business as usual “very unusual”, it is more important than ever for companies, especially B2B companies to successfully reach their customers and prospects through their website and online presence.
More and more, shoppers are going online to make business purchases at an unprecedented rate and companies with a results-driven website and online marketing strategy can reap huge rewards – even during this downturn.
HubSpot, a B2B marketing automation platform, aggregated data from its customer base of more than 70.000 companies to understand how business metrics are changing as companies deal with the impact of COVID-19.
The following chart from HubSpot shows percentage increases in website traffic in 2020 compared to traffic levels in 2019 (Pre-COVID).
When they declared COVID-19 a global pandemic in mid-March of this year, B2B site traffic took off with the biggest increases recorded in recent weeks.
As B2B shoppers move their purchases online due to the pandemic, companies with an established online presence have a competitive advantage.
Has the increase in online traffic resulted in an increase in sales?
Companies with a results-focused website as well as online marketing strategy have really experienced growth during the current crisis.
Nearly half of companies selling online (46%) reported sales growth as a result of COVID-19. This growth is a direct consequence of increased online activity, search volume and website traffic.
Do you have a website, but is it functional?
Often, companies don't design their website thought of the user experience Instead, they take an egocentric approach, meaning they are more interested in talking about their products, their history, their news, their events, and so on.
While this information may be important to them, it's not necessarily what their customers are interested in. If your site doesn't serve your prospects and customers, it isn't serving you either.
A customer-focused website puts your customers at the center of your online offering, making it easier for them to do business with you.
At the same time, a customer-focused website is aligned with your company's business strategy and marketing objectives.
And, most importantly, a customer-focused website delivers results – long-term profitable leads, sales and customers. To be successful, your website must:
- Provide useful and relevant information based on your users' needs. Make sure your content explains how your product or service solves your target customer's problem, what specific benefits your product will offer, and why they should buy from you.
- Educate and build trust. Offer educational blog posts, guides, videos, case studies and other content that will help convince a visitor to do business with you.
- Make it easy for customers to do business with you. Your customer-focused website should encourage prospects to place an e-commerce order or give you their information and establish their interest in becoming a customer through well-displayed calls to action.
- Make sure your website is mobile and easy to use. 61% of users are unlikely to return to a mobile site they have problems with. So make sure your website is easy to navigate on desktop, phone and tablet.
Advantages of creating a pandemic website
It is certainly true that the current crisis has created a challenging business climate for companies. However, by embracing these ideas to create a website that attracts sales, your business will be in a position to succeed now as well as in the coronavirus-free future.
Clearly there are numerous reasons why even the smallest businesses can benefit from a web presence, but here are five key considerations:
- Visibility: With more and more consumers coming to the Web to search for products and services, if they're going to find your business, your business needs to be on the Web.
- Reach: With a website, you are no longer limited to a customer base that is in physical proximity to your store. Your place of work may be in Boston, but your clients may be in Bangkok.
- Customer Service: When customers can go to your website and easily find the information they want when they want, their satisfaction increases.
- Competition: A professional-looking website can level the playing field for smaller companies trying to compete against larger companies. Plus, it's also a way to stay in the game; even if people can't find you on the web, chances are they can find your competitors.
- Credibility: When you can point customers, partners, even potential employees or investors to a website, it tells them that you are serious business.
Conclusion on creating a website in the pandemic
There are many compelling reasons why small businesses today should have a web presence. In fact, with the advent of free and easy-to-use services, it's hard to come up with a reason why not to do this right now. Is your company ready for this wave of online business?
Do not worry! With the Colors Agency, we guarantee much more than just an attractive look and a modern layout for your website. In other words, our main focus is to offer companies around the world effective solutions to generate visibility on the internet.
Our agency develops SEO strategies as well as brand positioning for large, medium and small multinational companies, all projects are important to us.
