This unprecedented time has presented many business leaders, especially small business owners, with an impossible question: how do you market services when your nonessential business has shut down? Unless your business is in the food, healthcare, or banking industries, chances are you, like millions of Americans, have been forced to just wait this out. The bad news is your revenue will likely slow, but the good news is you can still get creative with your brand engagement and customer outreach.

While safe at home and practicing social distancing, there are still lots of ways to interact with your clients and e-list. Below are five ways to stay relevant and keep your business in people’s minds so that when this is all over, your company can spring back to life. Heed these tips below, and stay healthy!

1 Practice the Light Touch

This is not the time to bother your clients with questions about your next project. Instead, practice the light touch: send a short and sweet email checking in with them. Ask them how they’re doing and perhaps add that you’re here if they need anything. Make it more personal than business-driven, just to show you’re thinking of them and you care.

2 Produce Video Content

Right now, people have information overload…but video is an effective, easy to consume, and can even be entertaining and distracting.  If you have any content to share right now, video might be the best medium for your business right now. People are at home staring at their screens, hungry for something to watch. And while many companies have sadly had to take a break during this time, if yours is able to promote some content at this time it will surely be remembered.

3 Make it Personal

Look, we’re all struggling during this time! Don’t be afraid to show people the real side of this troubling moment. Lots of non-profits and small businesses have sent out fundraiser emails during this period. Springtime is a popular season for galas, and with all of those events cancelled many companies are losing an enormous fundraising opportunity on top of the current economic downturn. Don’t be afraid to email your list with big sales or requesting donations: just be sure to state where the money is going.

4 Share Updates on Your Staff

Having a Zoom meeting? Tinkering with a new strategy during this time? Show your e-list, via an email or social media, what you and your staff have been up to: it’ll inform your community of goings-on but could also encourage them to support you. If people see that multiple people’s work is affected by this, they may feel more inclined to support the faces behind a brand.

5 Reassess Your Budget

This might be the most important behind-the-scenes tip we can offer. These are more meager times, there’s no doubt about it, so what less vital parts of your budget can you put off during COVID-19? Many companies, in an effort to keep workers employed, are keeping benefits but docking pay. Some are nixing Facebook advertisements and switching to organic reach without paid boosting. Print campaigns have been suspended. Do what is best for your company so that we can all weather these difficult times.