The labor shortage is impacting small businesses across the US. Small business owners are facing tough decisions about how to successfully leverage the holiday shopping season while potentially being short staffed. There are still options to keep your business open, and even growing, during this time. At RevLocal, we believe that your business’s success matters. We want to share our top tips for navigating these challenges like a pro.

Making updates to your Google My Business Listing can be a big help if you’re short on employees. 

Make sure your business hours are accurate online! If you consistently need to close earlier or open later due to low staff, let customers know the best time to come in. This small action can make a big difference for your business and loyal customers. If a customer shows up to your business but finds that you’re closed, they may seek out another business to fill their need. But, if they know ahead of time when you’re open, they can flex their schedules! 

Let your online presence do the talking. 

If your business is a restaurant, or any business that typically answers the phone to take orders or answer FAQs, switching to online ordering only and adding an FAQ page to your site can give a significant amount of time back to your staff. This can be temporary! If your traffic typically increases during the holidays, or has any seasonality, offloading those tasks before business picks up can make a big difference in customer satisfaction, especially if you’re low on employees. 

Plan ahead to use the staff you do have effectively. 

Making schedules far in advance and having a shift-switch or shift-coverage policy can aid greatly in keeping your business open and functioning smoothly. If you ship inventory, consider using a third party shipping or delivery service to assist your current in-store employees. This can also be a temporary solution for high volume seasons! 

Outsource what you can. 

Industries like retail, education, healthcare, and fast food have been some of the hardest hit with the national staffing shortage. Outsourcing your business’s digital marketing is a strategic move in 2021. All of these industries can benefit from having a digital marketing partner, whether your business is short staffed or not!  

Outsourcing your business’s digital marketing creates new resources and budget for you to use how you need. Whether that’s hiring much needed employees, starting on renovations, or launching bigger marketing campaigns, online advertising can help pave the way! Digital marketing is an investment. Yes, you’ll use budget up front, but, over time, new business generated from marketing will bring in more revenue than you bargained for. 

Additionally, having a third party run your marketing establishes your brand within your community and online. One secret in the digital marketing space is that while you advertise to gain new customers, you also advertise to the search engine algorithms. As your community gets to know you and drops in, the search engines will also start to see your business as credible and will start recommending you more often! Great marketing handled by experts is key in this process. 

With a full-service digital marketing agency handling your marketing, you have the peace of mind that your business is being served state of the art marketing and driving new business, without you having to lift a finger! With so many things to juggle, your marketing shouldn’t be a stressor for you or your business. 

With a strong digital marketing partner at your side, your business can thrive no matter the climate. 

Final thoughts: 

We hope you’re able to implement some of these strategies right away for your business. If you choose to outsource your business’s digital marketing, make sure you choose the right agency. Not all marketing firms are equal and it can be difficult to weed through them. Read this blog to make sure you’re prepared to have the important conversations as you scout out a marketing partner. If you’re interested in learning more about what it’s like to have RevLocal handle your business’s digital marketing, check out these resources.