Founder of Christchurch-based digital marketing experts Digital Influence, Scott Wilson, said this was a time to innovate and challenge the norms of your business – and there were some things businesses could be doing online right away to make gains. His tips are below.

Set up a website: WordPress, Wix, Squarespace and WooCommerce are all good options. Shopify is great for being able to take orders. Another quick fix: set up a Google My Business page and put up some offers or start with a Facebook page or group. Wilson advises – start with one platform and do it well.

Start advertising on platforms like Google Ads, Facebook Ads, Instagram, and LinkedIn – you can get started for as little as $5 a day.

Wilson’s advice – if you’re going to spend, you have to know what’s working and what’s not.  Set up Google Analytics to start tracking performance. See Wilson’s Facebook group for this here.

Create content for the platforms you’ve chosen. A fast way to create content is record yourself talking about a topic or your product and service. You can use www.rev.com to record and then transcribe what you’ve said. Check out Canva.com to help you create visuals for free, or support freelancers and outsource to a designer – see www.Fiverr.com.

Use the camera on your smartphone to record video – interview your team, have some fun! www.loom.com can help or broadcast live on Facebook using Facebook Lives.

Wilson said the key is to be real and tell the story of your customers, your suppliers and especially your team – people want to look after local people right now. If people were interacting with your videos then you might want to consider spending to promote the videos using Facebook and Instagram.

Restaurants – start making deliveries or get on Uber Eats. www.nowbookit.com can also be useful.

Wilson said the key to making offers right now is to create reasons for people to buy from you – e.g. a Birthday Month or an Easter Comes Early Offer. Start selling vouchers – especially if you’re a restaurant or retail store, and make sure they’re compelling enough to buy now if they’re going to be used later: e.g. buy a $50 voucher and get $70 worth of value.

On their first website visit, customers are usually just looking. Retargeting or remarketing helps bring them back when they’re ready to purchase. Read more here about how the Facebook Pixel can help.

Sales vendor Vend has also put out some advice for retailers here.