Sisters, Claire + Bronwyn from Mighty Market planned on opening their zero waste, clean beauty, and bulk refill brick and mortar shop in Downtown Martinez East Bay) - little did they know, a worldwide pandemic would shut down retailers across the world. Quickly they adapted to creating an eCommerce website to sell products, and used social media to connect with customers.

The iconic St. Helena winery is known for being Napa Valley's oldest wine estate, their grand estate, and some BIG bold Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon. When the “experience” of being at the winery was not allowed during the SIP (Shelter in Place) order for California, the Charles Krug team figured out how to bring that experience online with virtual wine tastings and Facebook Lives.

Ozzy and his partner have taken their pie/ice cream shop and cupcake shop and brought them online - partnering with local Sonoma County brands for promotions, doing dessert delivery, and always staying true to their Sonoma County roots.

The brick & mortar hair and skin salon has continued to focus on the connections that they have with their customers, and that can be seen as soon as you walk into the salon through smiling faces and repeat customers. When the SIP order went into place for Sonoma County, they had to shut down their salon and turn to online delivery orders, as well as a new Facebook group

In the latest in my video interview series, Pivotal - a Focus on Digital Marketing, I talked to Hannah, the Assistant Manager, Marketing & eCommerce at Bottle Barn. The Santa Rosa brick & mortar wine, beer, and spirits retailer started their eCommerce website just a few years earlier, but the COVID-19 Pandemic made it a greater focus for the 30-Year-Old business. 

The series is called Pivotal - a Focus on Digital Marketing - because everyone I've talked to both for this series, and through social media, or over the phone, they have realized that what worked in the past, AKA February 2020, wasn't going to work anymore, even after their businesses are granted permission to open back up.

California Governor, Gavin Newsom shared some of his plans to open California back up after the COVID-19 pandemic slows (still no official date until we see trends in hospitalization numbers flattening). The plan will be lifting SIP in stages. California Small businesses that rely on customers may need to rethink this business plan for life after the SIP orders are lifted - and get creative.

For some, when we are put in situations where we have to adapt quickly -- we find a way to pivot our small business strategy. For other business owners or marketers, it isn't so easy to change how you do business, but there are things you can do to make small steps to pivot your marketing.

If you feel like you need to social distance yourself from social media, you are not alone. I am trying not to check the news as much, or mindlessly scroll through Facebook or Instagram stories. Here are my top 4 tips for spring cleaning your social media during this COVID-19 pandemic.

Connecting with family while being sheltered at home is semi-easy to do with video chat! Here are some ideas on how to create a Virtual Easter Egg Hunt with family or friends in their own homes!

With the shelter-in-place order, wineries and restaurants all over California are having to rethink their traditional model of people coming to them. Creativity tends to flourish during times of crisis, so I wanted to give a few shoutouts to brands that I think are doing a great job of embracing the horrible reality that we're dealing with right now.

For many of us in the hospitality industry, all of our marketing efforts were directed at getting people into the tasting room, restaurant or hotel, and letting our tasting room staff sell wine club memberships/wine/food, etc. And even though this crisis is temporary, the brands that adapt will be able to move forward stronger, and the brands that simply want to revert to the status quo will be left behind.

Having a landing page on your own website helps with digital retargeting ads, SEO, and general branding (since the free version of Linktree doesn’t have many choices for changing up the style, fonts, or layout).  But what happens when marketers don’t have easy access to create new landing pages on your website?