Support Wealden is a new site where local businesses and charities can tell potential customers (for free) how to support them or access their services. www.supportwealden.co.uk
While we were in lockdown and feeling helpless, we decided to play to our strengths to help as many of our clients and other local businesses as possible, at the same time providing a public service. We had difficulty finding which business were open and which shops were operating delivery services, so this seemed an ideal resource to provide with a website.
It’s free for all business in and around Wealden to be listed – just complete the submission form on the site. We are receiving quite a few submissions right now so bear with us if it takes a bit more than 24 hours to add you.
The upside down. Limbo. Somewhere in-between lockdown and life as we once knew it. It’s unlikely there’ll be a return to ‘normality’ anytime soon of course, but there may be light at the end of the tunnel.
As lockdown is gradually eased, businesses will need to adapt and be prepared. We’ve prepared a FREE interactive PDF guide to make your journey towards workplace social distancing as straightforward as possible.
Our mission at Hailsham Creative has always been to help our clients be seen, to grow and gain more customers. We know a lot of businesses are changing the way they do business and now, more than ever, we wanted to help them get the word out.
We’re creating the Support Wealden website, a gathering place for these businesses; a place to share an updated message of how best to support them while we all maintain our distance from each other. A place where consumers who want to support their community can find plenty of places who are still operating and who would love the order.
If you’re a business owner who wants everyone to know they’re still operating, please complete the form on our Support Wealden page. There is no cost to any business wishing to be heard.
Before businesses are permitted to get back to work, it’s likely they will need to have taken steps to become a ‘covid-secure’ environment.
This might mean signage and floor graphics to reinforce social distancing procedures, installing protective barriers, or providing face masks to staff.
We’ve put together a collection of products to help businesses reinforce social distancing methods, so they can get ready to reopen in a safe and practical way.
Get in touch if you’d like to know more – call Jim on 01323 840048 or email
ROUND FLOOR STICKERS . Encourage customers to stay a safe distance apart and reinforce important safety messages with printed floor stickers.
RECTANGULAR FLOOR STICKERS / Encourage customers to stay a safe distance apart and reinforce important safety messages with instructional floor stickers. Choose between indoor or outdoor variations. The outdoor option is made from an aluminium based substrate and can be recycled.
SNEEZE GUARDS . Help to protect workers and customers in shops, post offices, pharmacies and other retail spaces with a sneeze guard.
SUSPENDED SNEEZE GUARDS . Perfect for small independent stores, takeaway outlets and customer service areas. Suspended sneeze guards are supplied rolled up and come with a simple hanging kit for suspended ceilings. Comes with a printed foamex header and footer for personalised branding.
BRANDED FACE MASKS . Face masks enhance the impact of social distancing and lower the risk of virus transmission to others. Printed with your logo or branding.
SIGN POSTS . Ideal for busy spaces like shops, pharmacies and factories where important safety messages need to be reinforced at ground level.
SAFETY POSTERS . Reinforce the latest Government issued safety guidelines on a large format poster. If you’ve had to make changes to the way customers interact with you, they can also be used to advertise operational messages like new opening hours or a temporary new address.
QUEUE BARRIERS . With the introduction of social distancing advice it may be necessary to change the layout of your entrances, till areas or working and canteen spaces. Branded queue barriers can guide your visitors and employees safely and help to keep them informed.
NAVIGATION SIGNAGE . Do you need to change access to your premises? Maybe your team are now working from home. Or you have new check-in rules. Use wayfinding soft signage to aid customer navigation. Print your new instructions to help people understand what to do.
MAGNETIC VEHICLE SIGNAGE . A quick and cost-effective way to instantly add a logo or livery to any car, van or truck. These magnetic graphics are ideal for restaurants that are now offering a take-away delivery service. To remove, simply peel off the side of the vehicle.
I’m doing ok, having good and bad days but I know I have a lot to be grateful for – a home with my partner, outdoor space to enjoy in the good weather, the ability to keep in touch with all of my family online and on the ‘phone.
Now, to work..
WORKING FROM HOME
If, like me, you’ve been working from home for a while you’ll be starting to recognise some of the problems, especially if you share the space with family: distractions, isolation, interruptions and lack of professional appearance.
DISTRACTIONS
The kettle, the biscuit tin and Facebook are all just too tempting! I don’t actually have an answer to that one (my Mother in law is feeding me up with cake), but if you keep busy with work you can reward yourself from time to time.
ISOLATION
It’s easy to feel isolated working from home at the best of times, but right now it’s even more important to keep in touch with your clients – just a quick message or a call to say ‘Hello’ can make all the difference to your day and theirs.
Here I can help – protect yourself from unexpected interruptions with a printed fabric backdrop. During face to face meetings on the screen a backdrop not only improves your professional image, it also keeps your branding in your client’s mind.
Learn from Prof. Robert Kelly, of the famously interrupted BBC interview – kids interrupting your video meetings can be cute a couple of times, but if you need to get on with work let them know that when the backdrop is up, that means they need to keep as quiet as possible and wait until you’ve finished before they ask where the spare loo rolls are or where babies come from.
PROFESSIONAL IMAGE
See above. Also, once you’ve got this online video thing down to a fine art you could start recording your own videos with details of your services or with advice and tips. Share them on LinkedIn, social media and in a blog on your website. Using your backdrop gets your image out there every time someone watches or even flicks past your video.
Let me know if you’d like to know more about the backdrops or if I can help you with a website, or if you just want a chat. I’m here!
We work from home and, as we share the home with an 82 year old, won’t be having any meetings or consultations at the office so we will be using Skype and keeping in touch via email and social media throughout the crisis.
It’s going to be a tough time for many small businesses and those who are self-employed. We’ll all have to make changes and adapt daily.
We want all of our client’s livelihoods to survive so, if we can help, please do call upon our services.
We are not trying to profit from a crisis and we do not want to encourage you to spend money unnecessarily. We have skills and resources and are here if you need us.
Below are some ideas for you. Stay safe and positive.
Have you been considering putting your business online?
Now might be a good time – we can help with simple and affordable websites including small e-commerce sites. Give us a call on 01323 840048.
How can you keep your business visible?
Everyone will be using social media to keep in touch with friends and family so consider a small, positive daily post.
Keep in touch with your clients and gather testimonials to put on your website and social media.
We don’t know yet how deliveries and the postal service will be affected but for now it is probably a safer way to promote your business than face-to-face meetings. If you are considering leaflets and packaging make sure everything has a long shelf life and won’t be out of date in a few weeks.
Want to be a video star?
If you have time on your hands why not create business videos to post on youtube and other platforms – we can help with branding and advice and can recommend film makers to work with.
Do you have a recovery plan?
We are determined to get through this and it’s important to make the most of new opportunities. We’ll be using the quiet moments to work on a new Business Plan to formulate a plan for the future, thinking about how our business will evolve. If you have any suggestions, please do let us know.
Can we work together?
If you have a service that our clients might be interested in, such as copywriting, social media or animation skills, get in touch. It’s a time for all of us to help each other.
WORKING FROM HOME
INTERRUPTIONS