How long has it been since you did any updates to your website? Now is the perfect time to sit down and really think about what you want your online presence to look like. If you’re in the small percentage of businesses that doesn’t have a website, there is no better time to actually put one together. We understand that you may not have the money for a custom design at the moment - even a free template is better than nothing.

• Get a handle on your site’s search engine optimisation (SEO), which determines how it ranks in search engine results.
• Get some new product photography done and update your site’s images or take it a step further and look into video.
• Give your site’s look and feel a bit of a refresh - are there better ways of laying out your content, or could your text do with a rewrite?

It’s difficult to draw business in if potential customers don’t know you exist, so it’s definitely worth spending some time on putting together a marketing plan for your business. You could focus on how to drum up business whilst coronavirus restrictions are still in place, or you could look to the future and plan for when life is starting to get back to normal. If you have the time and motivation, we recommend planning for both!

• Let potential customers know that you’re still open; many people are under the assumption that a lot of businesses have closed.
• Now is a good time to focus on more “feel good” messages in your marketing; why not share snapshots of your life (kids, pets, etc)?
• Look to special occasions or events occurring in the future that could be relevant to you - how can you use them to bring business in?

Why not finally try out that new product you’ve had your eye on (such as a pretreat for your DTG printer)? Or try your hand at a printing/decorating technique that you’re not familiar with? Or do some testing on a new garment range or type of fabric that you’ve been getting a lot of enquiries about? Many businesses often find they’re too busy to perform any sort of trials, particularly as it takes time to finesse and get the processes right.

If you offer a range of ready made products, now is the ideal time to go through them and make sure that they represent the very best that your business has to offer. Remove products that aren’t really selling or think about ways you could alter them in order to generate interest again. This is also a good time to look into some exciting new products that you could add to your store and that are more reflective of the direction you want to go.

Now is also a great time to further your skills, so that when life does start to look more normal your business will be able to tackle it by the horns. This could be directly related to your industry (so learning how to use a new machine or even a new garment decoration technology all together) or it could be supplementary to your business (so learning a bit more about marketing, social media, enewsletters and so on).

• Sign up to an online short course, many of which allow you to work at your own pace and at a time that is convenient for you.
• Participate in webinars and online classrooms; many printer manufacturers are offering these resources during coronavirus.
• Sign up to a university degree (if you’re okay with it taking a few years and costing more to obtain a qualification).

Got any questions or concerns about your garment decoration business or printer during this difficult time? Make sure you get in touch with the team at Machines Plus - we’re more than happy to help in any way we can.