Tips for staying focused while working from home.

It’s beginning to feel like Groundhog Day.

As the United States tries to flatten the curve and stem the tide of new COVID-19 cases, many of us have been working from home for over a week now. Wake up in the same outfit as yesterday, plop in your recliner, scan through the same “we’re all in this together” emails all these brands are flooding our inboxes with and spend the rest of your day wondering when things will go back to normal.

Before the ennui sets in, I got you (babe). Here are some innovative ways to keep clients and coworkers engaged while social distancing.

Social Media Campaigns
As Apple’s weekly screen time report can attest, people are scrolling social media more than ever before. Take advantage by launching a social media campaign. Encourage your staff and followers to share photos of their work-from-home station, home-cooked meals and, of course, their pets. Tweet or post a status asking folks to share their recommendations for binge watching and playlist compiling. Showing your personality can lead to stronger relationships with clients and even pique interest in potential ones. Plus, the online camaraderie can compensate for the lack of water cooler talk.

Newark, NJ-based Peerless Umbrella (asi/76730) has stepped it up a notch by creating a blanket fort challenge. The company’s Facebook followers can participate by building a fort with blankets, pillows, cardboard boxes or any other materials. Simply snap a photo of the design and post it in the comments by March 29 to be entered to win outdoor checkers or a giant yard domino set. Extra points for uploading the photo to Instagram, tagging @PeerlessUmbrella and using #PeerlessBlanketFortChallenge. It’s a fun, creative and safe strategy to build rapport with clients and grow your social media following.

Online Education
Despite your kids insisting this is an endless spring break, class is still in session. For you, too. ASIUniversity.com (free for ASI members) offers over 75 courses specifically designed to help you continue your professional development and grow your business. The team is also creating a calendar of education sessions and webinars geared toward helping you manage through the economic recovery. Now is a good time to invest in yourself, improving your knowledge and skills on a broad range of topics, such as how to increase sales, amplify your social media presence, learn decorating techniques and more.

Direct Mail
While digital media takes center stage during social distancing, stand out from the pack by sending promotional products directly to your client. If you’re not sure what to drop at their doorstep, perhaps something useful, yet informative during this time of need.

Buffalo, NY-based Le Tour de Spice (asi/67035) is using the coronavirus pandemic as an opportunity to market its healthy products. The supplier produces spice tubes of beet root powder and turmeric, as well as a tube of soap for when you’re using a public bathroom and want to avoid the soap dispenser. Each of the tubes come with packaging that gives tips on how to wash your hands effectively and avoid the spread of illnesses. It’s easy for distributors to sell – clients simply add their logo to one of the stock themes.

Creative packaging can turn the simplest products into tokens of value. For example, Leanne Schillinger, account executive at Top 40 distributor American Solutions for Business (asi/120075), sent her clients the most cherished item at the moment: toilet paper. But she focused on presentation, printing a label with messaging and wrapping it around the roll. Brian Ensign, owner of Aurora, CO-based Be Branded, went one step further and sent branded toilet paper to his top clients.

Direct mail isn’t just for clients. Mary Dobsch, owner of Washington, MO-based The Chest (asi/44830), has transitioned new hire kits into working-from-home kits to keep employees engaged. Inside a custom-printed box can be a letter expressing gratitude to your team for how they’re adjusting, along with useful branded items like a water bottle, pen and power charger, all placed in a custom tray.

Smile, You're On Camera
While email, conference calls and messaging apps are effective tools for keeping in touch, don’t be afraid to experiment with video. You don’t have to be tech savvy, just sincere. Bjorn Rheborg, regional manager at Top 40 supplier Gemline (asi/56070), has launched a YouTube series to inspire new ideas, showcase hot products and update viewers on what Gemline is doing internally to push through during this difficult time.

You can also build engagement by hosting Facebook Live videos, which is a great way to gauge your audience’s hunger for different topics that you can turn into a video series. Several suppliers and distributors have been giving brief video presentations about their company, products and services on various Facebook groups. Lindsey Davis, director of promotional sales at Cedar Rapids, IA-based Raining Rose (asi/80489), went outside the box by hosting a watch party of a virtual tour of the supplier’s facility.

Also, consider engaging webinars with relevant content that your audience can sign up for. Send out the information to your contact list and gather the email addresses during registration as warm leads for future marketing campaigns. Follow up with them after, particularly those who sent in questions during the webinar.