Business transforms online during COVID
MILWAUKEE - Changing with the times, after more than a year of dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic, some businesses have busted while others flourish.
Many owners looking to ensure survival are needing to adapt and make digital transformations.
Offering online gift boxes during the height of the pandemic, businesses like Milwaukee Food Tours quickly pivoted to stay afloat. Digital transitions like it are not only creating revenue but also sparking change for many industries.
"As we’ve seen entrepreneurialism still thriving and people are getting more creative than ever and new technologies are constantly emerging," Scott Steinberg said.
Steinberg, a business strategist and trends expert, said recovery is in sight and freelance marketplaces like fiverr.com provide tips and tricks for getting an on-site store and website up within a matter of hours.
"We are even seeing things like restaurants who are looking to create their own food delivery apps, those searches are up by 177%," said Steinberg. "They are finding better ways to connect with their audience and better serve people and, of course, like bookkeeping, accounting, marketing, research help with crowdfunding those are way up as well."
Steinberg said the pandemic actually hit a reset button for businesses and created even more opportunities for entrepreneurs.
"More of them were started in 2020 than in the entire decade prior, at any point, going all the way back to 2004, and I think because necessity is the mother of invention," Steinberg said.
As business owners are increasingly finding ways to adapt to meet the new needs of customers, Steinberg suggests:
- Creating a digital storefront
- Creating or updating your own app
- Turn your creativity or passion to cash
- Developing something new
"Businesses know now that they need to be digital, and that’s where things are headed and we are not going back," said Steinberg.
Steinberg said if you're just starting off, don't get overwhelmed; new technology is more affordable, easier and accessible.
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