From 4 Jan most of the establishments turned into little ghost towns. Demand collapsed and not a peep was heard, not even weekends. Reports of airlines and countries banning South Africa is an almost daily headline on several publications. The reality have set in that we are not out of it yet. There have been movement on vaccinations together with sharp declines in infection rates locally and in most of our source markets especially UK and US. Therefor we are on the road to recovery but again: where the end of it is, is unknown. The Lions Tour to SA is hanging in the air with whispers going around it moving to early 2022 and on top of that, Australia offered to host it (reported about 6 hours ago). Up to the time of this report nothing have changed and they are still booked for SA in July 2021. Other industry players (Tour Operators, DMC’s, etc) is now confidently forecasting a Q3 return but most likely staggered from October 2021 onwards In light of this we have to continue to try and capture our local market and the below might be handy (adapted from Wordstream.com) Create a free Google My Business account For local businesses especially, a Google Business Profile has become one of the most effective free marketing strategies available. This free listing allows your business to show up on Google Maps, the local section of Google Search, and the right-side Knowledge Panel for branded searches. Post (and engage) on social media Increasing social media engagement and building a community online is a free way to grow your small business while expressing your brand’s personality and building trust with your audience. Create business accounts and participate in the big social media sites—Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, YouTube, and more. This is something you can do whenever you have a few minutes to spare Tag people (and brands) on social media Tagging your loyal customers, brand evangelists, or even neighboring companies and vendors on social media can broaden the organic reach of your business to a new potential audience, help you grow your following, and potentially even attain more clients. You should also encourage your followers to tag your social media handle or business location in their posts Use hashtags! Another free marketing tactic that can broaden your reach is to incorporate hashtags into your social media posts—on Instagram, Twitter, and TikTok for sure but also for Facebook and LinkedIn. Broad or trending hashtags can help you reinforce your brand identity, but they should not be the only hashtags you use. More specific hashtags (sort of like long-tail keywords) are good for when you’re providing resources or advice. Location-based hashtags are a must if you’re a local business. And don’t forget custom hashtags! Apply a mix of hashtag types in your posts so they can reach the people for whom they are meant. Don’t sleep on LinkedIn LinkedIn is a major social media site that is often under-utilized. Don’t just add network connections and sign out; enter into dialogue with the connections you make, share your blog posts and offers, join and contribute to forums, and share others’ quality content. By enabling other professionals to grow and educating your potential customers, you can build your brand and earn trust and respect in your industry. Also, encourage all your employees to get active on the platform too! Do some local SEO The best part about Google’s algorithm is that it is designed to serve up the most accurate, high-quality, and relevant content for any given search query. It’s not pay to play, so this levels the playing field and enables small businesses to compete with large competitors for page one real estate. Local SEO is free, but it can take some time, so start now and keep working; the benefits over time can be huge. Here are some local SEO must-dos: Add location-based keywords (think: “Portland bakery”) to the titles, headings, and body content of your main website pages. Get listed in online directories, making sure your information is identical across platforms. Publish pages or blog posts specific to the neighborhoods you serve. Develop an email marketing plan Email marketing is a great way to get new visitors engaged with your business, as well as maintain relationships with your existing customers. And though email marketing isn’t new, it’s still one of—if not the—most reliable ways to achieve a strong return on your marketing investment. Here’s how to ensure that: Put thought and creativity into your subject lines. Make sure every email has an offer that encourages your readers to take a next step. Track your performance and run A/B tests to see what copy and offers resonate with your list. free and low budget marketing ideas email marketing Some more easy email marketing ideas: Get new website visitors to sign up for your newsletter by offering a bonus content piece or coupon/discount for subscribing. Slowly nurture your subscribers via email until they are ready to become paying customers. Start your promotional email campaigns with a free email marketing service like MailChimp. Create data-rich infographics Infographics are insanely powerful as marketing tools. They’re visual eye candy, easy to digest, and people love to share them, so they’re a great way to drive up referral traffic and links. Hiring a designer to make you an A+ infographic can hit your wallet hard, but you can make your own on the cheap with free tools like Canva, Adobe’s free vector kits,  or our personal favorite, Visme, that provide all the elements needed to make a clever, sharable infographic. Not sure where to start? Check out Visual.ly for inspiration. They have beginner and advanced examples for you to browse through. Claim free ad promo credits While massive ad campaigns may be out of your budget, there are often discounts and coupons floating around for Facebook or Google Ads. Some web hosting services offer advertising discount codes as part of their membership offerings. Check and see