Coronavirus is spreading through this country at an alarming rate. Businesses have been shuttered, families are practically on lockdown in their homes, schools are closed, and even the Happiest Place on Earth is not so happy right now. But like all things, this too shall pass.

Your first instinct as a business owner is to hunker down and slash spending to conserve assets. In fact, the first line item you may consider slashing is your content marketing budget. Don’t do it. This is actually the time to increase it, if even slightly, so as to comfort, inform and educate your customers and potential customers.

Avoid Knee-Jerk Reactions

Yes, your first instinct may be to panic and bury your head in the sand, but make a conscious effort not to make “knee jerk” changes to your business . Your business may certainly be feeling the COVID-19 impact, but it’s only a matter of time until the situation settles and you can make more informed decisions, according to Entrepreneur.

Tightening the Belt

Times like these force many businesses, especially small ones, to whip out their financial statements and start figuring out where they can cut costs. In and of itself, this isn’t a bad idea. But a common mistake occurs when many businesses assume content marketing is a luxury and that they can survive without it.

Indeed, you really can’t. During tough economic times, companies are not the only ones looking to save a buck: customers are in the same boat. They’re at home, they’re still buying goods and services to the extent they’re able, and they’re still doing rigorous research to locate the best deal, points out Business 2 Community.

If you decide to trim your content marketing dollars, you could lose out to a competitor who is actually ramping up their efforts with promotions, discounts and deals. In the end, you could lose more money than you thought you were saving with all those budget cuts.

Conserving Cash, But in the Right Areas

Take a look at your cash flow. In uncertain times like these, conservation of cash flow is integral, but this doesn’t mean you should be going on an expense-slashing spree. With the fight or flight instinct kicking in big time right now, this can seem like second nature.

But without being keenly aware of the nuts and bolts of your business data, you could cut something that may seem non-essential now but that may turn out to be essential once this is all over. When things start to get tight for your business, cutting marketing budgets sounds like the first thing you should do when in fact it’s one of the last.

Communication

Content marketing is an extremely effective way for you to stay in touch with your customers during the coronavirus pandemic. Communicating and engaging with your audience should remain undisrupted, no matter what the current situation going on in the world is – as long as you have the proper content marketing strategies in place, according to NewsCred Insights.

In challenging times amid a fast-changing global landscape such as the one presented by COVID-19, communicating brand identity and values is still vitally important. Coronavirus provides a new challenge for businesses to invest in content marketing strategies delivered via online platforms. Ensuring your customers are aware that you are still available and interested in their business throughout 2020 and beyond: this should be a priority right now, and keeping your content marketing budgets intact is the best way to achieve this.

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