How tech & start-ups are dealing with COVID-19

COVID-19 changed everything (all over the world) and as we continue to find ourselves in a state of uncertainty that many, if not most, of us have never experienced before, new research has revealed the impact of the corona crisis on tech and start-up businesses.

But while the research, released by business & investor intelligence platform dealroom has highlighted the struggles of many companies in the face of declining demand, it has also shown a number of new tech platforms which are performing well as they help companies adapt to a new way of working.

Video conferencing, food delivery and health experience rising demand

Probably not that surprisingly, video conferencing platforms like Zoom, online medical platforms and online food delivery companies are seeing a surge in demand as more people get used to working at home and adapt to the current state of "lockdown".

The fact that Zoom has seen a 77% increase in its share price since the end of January (according to dealroom's research) is understandable if - like us - you've become accustomed to those daily conference calls "going digital" as our screens turn into a virtual version of Guess Who.

Ecommerce platforms and streaming services are also on the rise.

Travel, advertising and retail take a big hit

With the whole world seemingly in lockdown, dealroom's research has shown that travel companies, real estate businesses and retail are taking the biggest hit.

Interestingly, Advertising is also showing a major decline as businesses look to strip back costs to navigate the coming months,

However, as we explain in this blog, cutting back on Advertising, Marketing and Comms now could end up being a huge mistake and is something to potentially reconsider.

COVID crisis accelerating positive and negative economic change

What is interesting (and perhaps something to potentially look at as a positive) is that the massive shift towards more collaborative technology and working methods, have been accelerated by the current crisis - but only because the economy was shifting that way anyway.

While we've heard plenty of negatives coming out of the last few weeks, it has also been somewhat reassuring to hear the positives and see posts, comments and responses from businesses of how they have quickly adapted to change and are moving forward in the face of adversity.

Why are we sharing this?

There are challenges ahead.

We've adapted and accepted that for now we are going to have to work differently - but in the midst of everything that is happening there is still potential and opportunity for businesses to grow.

It might seem strange to market and sell in a time of crisis but the reality is, you're going to have to - just in a different way.

Now more than ever, empathy and timing is key to your messaging and focusing on what your customers need (rather than yourself) is essential.

Now is also the time to take stock and review your current content and inbound marketing plans.

What you had planned before probably won't work right now, but your customers and prospects still need information and getting your website in order and your inbound marketing strategy in place will help you give them the information.

Also, if you're already using inbound marketing and automation, make sure you go back through your scheduled content to make sure you don't accidentally send something out that might have been great two weeks ago, but now comes across as insensitive.

If you're looking for some free help to getting your inbound marketing and sales optimised, we're hosting a series of webinars with our key Partners HubSpot, Drift and Vidyard in the coming weeks to give you some advice to help introduce video marketing and sales, conversational marketing to your company - as well as some advice to adapting to working online.

You can catch up with our online talk with Vidyard here and watch the recording of our webinar with HubSpot below.