National Small Business Week: Supporting Small Businesses through COVID-19 (Part III)
COVID-19 has significantly impacted companies of all sizes across the country, and none have perhaps been more shaken by the pandemic than America’s small businesses. According to the Main Street America organization’s Small Business Survey, about 37% of small businesses are at risk of shutting down within the next few months.
Continuing our series celebrating what would have been National Small Business Week [part one]: National Small Business Week: Supporting Small Businesses through COVID-19 [Part One]; part two: National Small Business Week: Supporting Small Businesses through COVID-19 [Part Two], today we hear from SOCi, the leading platform for “next-level” multi-location marketers. SOCi’s associate director of marketing, Olivia Starr, tells us how the localized marketing partner has jumped into action to support the local economy.
How are you supporting small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic?
In the early stages of the pandemic breaking, we made a commitment to help any company, even those that aren’t currently our clients, with their localized marketing. We’re doing this at no cose simply because it’s the right thing to do. Our CEO said it best: “As a leader in this space, we feel a responsibility to help any franchise or multi-location brand do everything it can do to keep up the local economy.”
We’re also offering bi-weekly webinars focused on COVID-related issues, we're doing 2x weekly blog content that has been dedicated to COVID, and we just launched a library of assets for our customers to help jumpstart a crisis communication strategy.
What advice would you give to the industry about how to support customers right now?
Communications need to be empathetic during this time – for both internal and external, social content needs to be helpful and on-brand. Rethink your daily operations to see if anything can be done digitally, and don't neglect your engagement and reviews. The world has gone digital so your strategy needs to align to this behavior – update all local listings and ensure you're utilizing all features provided by the top search and social sites to engage with consumers.
Are there any fun things your company is doing to maintain company culture working remotely?
As a company, we made it a huge priority in-quarter to increase the surprise and delight for our team. With everyone working remotely, we tried to get creative with different ways to motivate and incentivize our team. We're bringing the excitement, and marketing has out rolled a few internal contests to help keep the team motivated as we're all working remotely.
SOCi hosted a Bingo night for the entire company. We are hosting monthly digital lunch and learns with key SOCi execs, and outside thought leaders to continually help our team learn and grow - plus UberEats on us. We have weekly coffee check-ins - every Friday, and we have hosted a few Zoom team happy hours. It's extremely important for our marketing team to remain connected and find different ways of collaborating (digitally) to help keep the morale high.
National Small Business Week: Supporting Small Businesses through COVID-19 (Part II)
COVID-19 has significantly impacted companies of all sizes across the country, and none have perhaps been more shaken by the pandemic than America’s small businesses. According to the Main Street America organization’s Small Business Survey, about 37% of small businesses are at risk of shutting down within the next few months.
Continuing our series celebrating what would have been National Small Business Week [see part one here: National Small Business Week: Supporting Small Businesses through COVID-19 [Part One], today we hear from Kangaroo, the leader in affordable, easy-to-use home security products. Bob Stohrer, Kangaroo’s Chief Marketing Officer, shares how the company is handling COVID-19 as a resource for many of the small businesses that have had to close their doors at least temporarily due to the current crisis.
How are you supporting small businesses during the COVID-19 pandemic?
As a NYC-based start-up, we witnessed the early and profound impact of COVID-19 as small businesses went dark all around us. While our DIY security solutions were designed for homes, we knew they could also be very useful and effective for small businesses. We quickly stood up a “free use and return” offer directed at small businesses, allowing them to safeguard their storefronts at no cost and with no long-term obligation.
What advice would you give to the industry about how to support customers right now?
As a marketer, COVID-19 effectively unfragmented our country and immediately put most everyone on the same page in terms of concerns, needs, and behaviors. In just months, it seemed as though we had turned back the clock by decades to a time when people were oriented around a handful of issues, institutions, and media outlets. The opportunity and mandate right now is to do things fit into this shared narrative, and where feasible to pivot your focus, marketing, and activities accordingly. It’s also a good reminder that creativity loves constraints and not to give up realizing new applications of your business and people.
Are there any fun things your company is doing to maintain company culture working remotely?
A member of our team instituted Friday Happy-Video Hour, which has been a fun way to exhale and stay connected to colleagues outside of the day-to-day pressures of work and what’s going on around us. As a company that operates across three countries, we’re also doing all-company meetings once a week just to ensure everyone is pacing with the business and has a good handle on how COVID-19 is influencing our actions. While not the most innovative and fun thing, it has kept the team informed and inspired.
National Small Business Week: Supporting Small Businesses through COVID-19 (Part I)
COVID-19 has significantly impacted companies of all sizes across the country, and none have perhaps been more shaken by the pandemic than America’s small businesses. According to the Main Street America organization’s Small Business Survey, about 37% of small businesses are at risk of shutting down within the next few months.
In celebration of what would have been National Small Business Week, we are spotlighting three clients that work closely with small businesses. Up today is MakeSpace, a full-service storage company that is redefining the storage experience as we know it by creating storage without the struggle – picking up, hauling, and storing your stuff, then delivering it back to you.
How are you supporting small businesses during the COVID-19 Pandemic?
We are offering free storage to small businesses affected by COVID-19. This pandemic has unfortunately forced many businesses to close down, and we know that some extra flexibility may help them re-open successfully when this is all over. For a limited time, small business owners can bring their items to one of our facilities for three free months of storage.
What advice would you give to the industry about how to support your customers?
While customers are spending more conservatively, they’re also looking for new products to fit their radically altered lifestyles. It’s important to offer your service or product in the safest and most convenient way possible. We updated our policies to offer no-contact appointments, making it more secure for our teams to serve customers while maintaining social distance. Businesses need to evaluate their entire customer experience to accommodate the new reality.
What has MakeSpace been doing to maintain company culture working remotely?
A big part of building a positive (work)space is the frequent gatherings, events, and traditions that make the office feel more like a community. But it can be challenging to preserve workplace culture when everyone is working remotely. In an initiative led by Office Manager Laura Iskaros, VP of People Megan Lyons, and the MakeSpace Culture Committee, we’re using Slack, Google Hangouts, Zoom, and other online tools to preserve culture while maintaining social distance.
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Happy Hour Hangouts from Home → a daily 5-6pm happy hour open to all employees to have a beer, show off their homes/children/pets, and just socialize and wind down after a day of work.
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Pet Parade → weekly on Tuesdays, a Google hangout open to all pet owners and pet lovers to show off their fur friends!
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Remote #Brew-Crew → took a MakeSpace culture staple and made it remote! Rather than going out for a coffee with members from different teams, this time you make yourself a coffee at home and have a video chat with them. Small groups of five, twice a week. It’s a fun and easy way to be social from home.
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Remote QOTD → using a free Web Whiteboard service, we ask a daily QOTD ranging from “What album do you recommend for WFH isolation?” to “What’s the best meal you’ve made since working remotely?” and everything in between!
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Simple Habit partnership → partnered with Simple Habits for a 45-day unlimited access to Simple Habit’s wellness professionals, guided meditations, therapy, coaching, motivational talks and much more.
Managing Partner Featured in The Ladders
The Ladders was taking a unique look at how job seekers and employees alike should be thinking about their careers. Having grown up in the 90s, our Managing Partner Greg Mondshein offered some topical insights as to how he thinks about hiring and what he looks for in new employees. From old school networking to flying your freak flag to Y2K, this article has it all.
Please visit The Ladders here to check out the full article and let us know what you think!
SourceCode Expands AdTech / MarTech Practice
SourceCode Communications Announces AOR Relationships with Connatix and Octoly
Tech PR agency expands growing adtech / martech practice under VP Sara Ajemian
NEW YORK—August 10, 2018— SourceCode Communications has further expanded its adtech and martech client roster with the addition of two agency of record partnerships. The New York-based tech PR agency has signed Connatix—the next generation video platform for publishers—and Octoly, an influencer marketing platform geared toward micro-influencers. SourceCode’s work for both new clients will focus on bolstering US awareness through creative campaign initiatives designed to establish thought leadership in two rapidly expanding markets.
“Throughout the pitch process, the team at SourceCode demonstrated a command of the adtech industry and presented creative and thoughtful ideas to strengthen our position as the next-generation video platform for publishers," said David Kashak, CEO at Connatix. “We're eager to collaborate together as we continue to unveil industry-leading technology solutions that help publishers deliver successful videos without compromise."
“From the get-go, we were impressed with how much the SourceCode team intimately understood how we differentiate ourselves within the influencer marketing space,” said Thomas Owakendo, CEO at Octoly. “We are doing things differently—empowering our 11K+ community of influencers from the ground up, fostering their authentic relationships with global and D2C brands (and vice versa)—all through a product-gifting model that’s unlike anything else on the market today. I have no doubt we have selected the right partner to help grow our U.S. business.”
These signings expand SourceCode’s B2B portfolio, allowing the team to work creatively and strategically to build each brand’s awareness and value in a constantly changing space. These selections come on the heel of the hire of industry veteran Sara Ajemian to lead the adtech and martech practice group.
“It’s a really interesting time for anyone offering solutions around visually-driven content, and we’re excited to partner with industry-leading companies like Connatix and Octoly who have their own unique perspectives on how and where people today want to be engaged by brands,” said Ajemian.
A month shy of its one-year anniversary, SourceCode is on pace to experience 7x growth in 2018. In July, the agency built out its consumer tech practice with the addition of Elvie, a health and lifestyle brand developing smarter technology for women, and Scruff, the gay app for chat, dating and social networking with guys worldwide. Earlier this year, the company also announced the addition of full-suite research-technology solutions provider FocusVision and SOCi, the leading reputation and social media management solution for multi-location enterprises. The agency currently employs 10 full-time staffers and recently signed a lease on more space at its Union Square location.
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About SourceCode Communications
SourceCode Communications an award-winning communications marketing agency launched in 2017 by technology PR industry veterans Greg Mondshein and Rebecca Honeyman. Based in New York, the agency is focused on delivering measurable business impact to brands in five major sectors - consumer lifestyle, enterprise technology, marketing technology, mobile and telecommunications and financial technology. SourceCode is a 3x 2018 In2Sabre nominee, 1x In2Sabre winner and a Holmes Report 2018 New Agency of the Year Finalist. For more information, please visit www.sourcecodecommunications.com.
Media Contact
Greg Mondshein
Managing Partner
greg@sourcecodecomms.com