Snow days occupy a special place in many consumers’ minds. Some might think back to their days in elementary school spent looking out the window and waiting for the radio to call out school closures, while others conjure images of their neighborhoods transformed into idyllic winter wonderlands.
While this kind of daydreaming may be fine for most people, small-business owners may get a little nervous at the prospect of a storm that can shut down an entire city for several days. If your business thrives on in-store traffic and sales, you might shudder at the thought of a blizzard closing down the roads. However, with a bit of marketing savvy, you can stay engaged and connected even when you can’t see 10 feet out the window. If you’re worried about falling behind your competitors because a snow storm has closed down your store, check out these three ways you can stay productive when the weather gets bad.
Being stuck inside during a storm doesn’t mean you have to stop all business operations.1. Get on social media
Guess what – if you’re stuck at home during a snow storm, then so are all of your customers. While you might not be able to move any of your in-store product, Web marketing firm IQnection explained that this is a fantastic opportunity to connect with your customers on social media.
In between the 24/7 weather coverage on TV, your consumers are going to turn to their smartphones or laptops eventually. Get on Twitter and Facebook and start posting relevant content not just about your brand, but the storm as well. Most social media users are looking for content that speaks to their immediate experiences, and if you can manage to tie in your business into the massive snow fall – say, in the form of a picture of a snowman wearing promotional products like Myron’s Personalized Hat and Scarf Set – you’ll have the closest thing to a captive audience that exists in the small-business world.
“Catch up on all the work you can’t seem to get done in the office.”
2. Get offline work done
In the digital age, it’s rare to find 15 minutes that you can spend doing work that requires you to step away from the keyboard. If you have a trade show calendar to plan and need to map out when you’re going to buy all the necessary promotional products to woo your clients, Influential Marketing Group explained that snow days can sometimes function as ‘business blinders’ that remove all the unwanted distractions that waste your time every day.
Instead of being constantly plugged in, sit down with a planner, a pen and a cup of coffee. You might be amazed at how much you can get done in a short period of time without emails and texts interrupting your concentration. You might even be praying for snow in the future to catch up on all the work you can’t seem to get done in the office.
3. Get organized
If the storm is so bad that power outages are happening across your region, it’s a safe bet that your customers won’t be quite as focused on your social media marketing strategy as you’d like. However, Propel Marketing explained that you can take advantage of this downtime to do a little digital cleaning for all the email addresses you run as a small-business owner.
If you haven’t set up a comprehensive filter system, use the lull of snow days to make it happen. Common email platforms like Gmail offer quick and easy ways to filter incoming messages by sender, subject and even keywords in the body of the email. If you’re expecting a massive influx of emails the day after the storm, these filters can help keep your correspondence with customers and clients in a nice, neat package.