LEGAL & FINANCE
Panelists:
- Steve Berg from Lytical Ventures
- Ricardo Devallon from Next Street
- Sanjay Mody from Windels Marx Lane & Mittendorf LLP
Takeaways:
- Engage with your financial institution as soon as possible. If you don't already have a banking relationship, reach out to a lender who is processing PPP loans.
- Smaller financial institutions may be more flexible in the PPP process. A list of lenders close to Dumbo can be found here.
- PPP loans require payroll documentation. If you don't have a traditional payroll structure, or work as an independent contractor, you can still supply documents to show your average payroll. These include 1099-MISCs, W-2s, bank statements, or internally generated profit and loss statements.
BUSINESS LEADERSHIP AND E-COMMERCE
Panelists:
- Alex Bellos, West Elm
- Aaron Able, West Elm
Takeaways:
E-Commerce/Advertising
- Focus on internet advertising and outreach to your target audiences. People are more likely to engage and accept multiple outreach efforts.
- People are more accepting of multiple E-blasts in a week, and don't feel as bothered by it. Facebook advertising can also be effective, as there is not much competition in the moment for people's attention.
- Other online advertising like Instagram can also be effective at this time. This is a great time to repurpose/reuse old content on your social media profiles.
In-Store Experiences
- Reinvent how customers can interact with your storefront. Set up appointments with customers for 1on1 shopping experiences, using google forms or other online tools.
- Arrange for virtual consultations to help clients make decisions that would be hard to do without being in store.
- Make customers feel safe by demonstrating a commitment to cleanliness and safety in your business. Make sanitization and cleaning efforts visible, supply sanitizer to customers coming to your store.
Media/Marketing Strategies
Panelists:
- Peggy Panosh, Peggy Panosh Consulting
- Adam Lerman, Associate Creative Director, Mustache Content Agency
Takeaways:
Communicate what your day to day offerings are in the clearest way possible.
- Make it visual, top of feed, a highlighted story, bio, and more. WE ARE OPEN or WE ARE CLOSED
- Do you have appt’s open now? If not, when?
- Highlight your pivots
Provide utilitarian tips. They tend to create more engagement.
- How To’s and DIY’s are popping off on Tiktok. If you have a skill, offer it up!
- CEO statements are good, but make your Daily Operations info a separate thing. Don’t bury it in that stuff. We want to be able to glance at a feed and get What They’re Doing Today.
- In other words, seperate sentiment from utilitarian information.
Create content that activates all your stakeholders?
- How do you communicate w/ all them?
- Does it change from stakeholder to stakeholder, or can you speak to all of them at once?
Make strong choices take the risk of being interesting
- The rule books have been burnt and thrown out the window. Just do something that you want to do. More personality and humanity makes people connect to you. Slick doesn’t feel warm. Small biz’ want to appeal on a human level.
- Satisfying to watch. #oddlysatisfying.
- Reach out to local influencers.
- Create likely and unlikely partnerships. For example, BK Yoga, lead a corporate Zoom class for Dumbo businesses! Can you partner with the Poetry Shop to include a meditative excerpt of poetry during Shavasana?
Restaurants/Food Industry
Panelists:
- Yaniv Cohen, CEO, Westville
- Elise Reynolds, General Manager, Soho House
- Allison Wagner, Director of Marketing and Communications, Soho House
Takeaways:
- Promote direct ordering through the restaurant as opposed to using third parties (Grubhub etc.)
- Promote your business online! Make it clear you are open, even if on a limited scale
- As weather improves, think about how to reach local foot traffic walking in Dumbo. Street presence in front of your business can help reach individuals who may not be looking online
- Although the future is still unclear, start strategizing on how you might adapt your business when things return to "normal"
Covid-19 handbook from Black Sheep Restaurant Group
Take a look at the link below for a helpful guide to many Covid-19 related planning elements for restaurants, including guest management, team organization, delivery/takeaway tips, and more!
https://blacksheeprestaurants.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/03/black-sheep-restaurants-sop-covid19.pdf