5 Resources For Ohio Small Businesses During Social Distancing

The growth of small businesses helps to stabilize the backbone of our entire community and ensures that our cities can attract and retain new talent.

As a small business ourselves, we know how confusing and overwhelming these recent events can feel.

Despite the hardships ahead, our intent is to keep moving forward. We will continue helping our small business partners realize their goals and overcome obstacles. Whatever lies ahead, let’s get through it together.

We can’t predict the future, but one thing is crystal clear. Small business owners need to put together a plan of action now to ensure their success for the future.

Our team compiled a list of

5 resources to help Ohio small businesses overcome the setbacks of social distancing.

1. Use Email To Stay In Touch
2. Disaster Loan Assistance
3. Small Business Grant
4. Yelp Relief & GrubHub “Contact-Free” delivery
5. Start a Virtual Tip Jar

1. Use this email template to stay in touch with your audience.

It can be easy to take a back seat and go dark during times of struggle. However, our recommendation is to keep in contact with your audience as much as possible.

• It’s important that your communication schedule and messaging stay consistent right now.
• This ensures that when the skies clear and consumers are ready to purchase again, your brand will be fresh in their minds.
• An audience that shares in both your struggles and success stories will be eager to purchase from you again.
• They will rally around a business that, in difficult times, demonstrated absolute optimism and resiliency.

An easy (and free) way to stay in contact with your audience is through weekly email updates.

2. Take advantage of Disaster Loan Assistance.

Ohio businesses are now eligible for Disaster Loans from the SBA. Long-term payment plans and low-interest rates offer some relief to business owners in this time of crisis. Each company’s specific needs will be taken into account on a case-by-case basis.

You can apply online and check your application status here.

3. Facebook Small Business Grants Program

Facebook is one of the most impactful social media platforms for small businesses.

A Social Media Marketing Industry Report found that 72% of B2C marketers stated Facebook as their top social advertising platform.

Right now, Facebook understands that spending money on advertising may be hard for small business owners.

Based on their recent promise to small businesses, they are encouraging us to keep advertising and pushing forward. And we agree with them.

Even though money is tight, slowing down marketing efforts for your business is not ideal.

In fact, it can be extremely detrimental to your future success. You can learn more from our recent post about why you should never cut your marketing budget even in times of crisis.

As a way to help business owners stay active on their platform, Facebook announced they will offer $100M in cash grants and ad credits for small businesses.

You can learn more and sign up for the release of their application process here.

4. Yelp Relief Packages & GrubHub “contact-free” delivery.

These two resources are focused specifically on restaurants, bars & nightlife.

According to Yelp, “Over the past week, U.S. consumer interest for restaurants has fallen by 54%, and for nightlife businesses by 69%.”

Yelp announced they will offer $25 million in credits for advertising, waive fees and provide free local advertising.

Read their blog to learn more about the Yelp Relief Packages for small businesses.

Additionally, GrubHub will start promoting “contact-free” delivery to ensure that consumers stay safe while continuing to order from their favorite local restaurants.

These are helpful, much-needed actions from companies who ultimately survive off of our small business success.

The more we continue to help one another, the more we all gain in the end.

5. Start a Virtual Tip Jar For Your Employees.

Communities want to give back to the businesses who make their city something special.

Local restaurants, bars, galleries and shops are what breathe life and vitality into every city. Without them, our lives would be pretty dull.

A great way to provide residents with an option to support your business is through a crowdfunding campaign.

For example, this local tavern raised $25k and counting by presenting the fundraiser as a “virtual tip jar.”

Final word:

Despite the hard times and the unexpected journey ahead, it’s comforting to know that our communities are working together to help small businesses in particular.

We genuinely hope that these few resources will guide you on the right journey to creating an effective plan of action.

If you’re looking to partner with an agency who can help you plan for the future, Social Firm would love to talk with you and learn about your small business needs.