Optimism is returning to Main Streets across the province as businesses prepare to reopen. The question facing many owners is whether they are ready to reopen, and how to plan for the expected bounce and revitalization of the economy.

Gordon Borrell is C.E.O. of Borrell Associates and is the local media industry’s leading analyst. Prior to starting Borrell Associates, he was Vice President for New Media for Landmark Communications, where he worked for 22 years.

He says how you plan to reopen will be just as important as the plan itself.

“So you have people who have never planned in the past, and really need to plan, and then you have people who planned in the past, and over-planned, and that can be just as bad,” explains Borrell. “We’ve seen this before at companies, ‘Okay, we’re going to have a committee meeting, we’re going to get together, and we’re going to make sure the marketing is right, and then we’ll have a decision next Tuesday.’ Meanwhile, the market is passing them by. There’s a bit of over planning you have to be careful about, and you have to pivot very quickly. And then not planning at all just ensures you’re going to be in a lot of trouble.”

Borrell says it’s crucial for small business owners to connect with customers through the right messaging for right now.

“If you put two businesses side by side, they could be the exact same type of businesses, the exact same type of product, great service, one will fail, one will succeed during this particular crisis,” notes Borrell. “The difference is exclusively the marketing. You can see it, where businesses have really thrived during this time, and it’s because they did something specific with their marketing, while the others went silent, and half of all businesses have gone silent with their marketing.”

Borrell is the featured speaker in the third session of Golden West’s FREE webinar series happening Thursday morning at 10 am. Jim Brown, President of Borrell Associates will also present during the webinar, bringing suggestions and perspectives from his more than 25 years of results driven leadership in sales and marketing.

You can register now by clicking here.