The pandemic was devastating for the global economy and the impact was great, but against the grain of the crisis, many companies from different sectors experienced great growth by applying entrepreneurship strategies and social networks to scale business. Small businesses have turned into large companies and established businesses have tripled in size investing in digital, marketing and apps.
In the fashion and food sector, for example, those who invested in technology and marketing had a quick return and sold directly to the thousands of new digital consumers that emerged due to the quarantine. In all cases of companies that overcame the crisis, or even were born during the pandemic, success is attributed to content creation, marketing, organization, quality analysis, market research and more management knowledge.
We separate some companies that were born or grew during the pandemic and what we can learn from each case. See and be inspired:
Housi (Apartments on demand)
On-demand apartment startup Housi achieved a 167% increase in the number of contracts during the pandemic and is currently present in over 100 cities.
The company gained great popularity on the internet and invested heavily in hiring and partnering with major influencers, with great care to only scale those with true engagements and who convey a good image to the public, creating a perfect atmosphere for lovers of pop culture. Signing up for a Housi apartment in São Paulo, for example, is having reality TV participants and the hottest influencers as neighbors!
The lesson of this case is to create an environment for your audience and properly portray your product or service on the internet through influencers who really talk to your audience.
EAI Burguer (Premium hamburger franchise chain)
If you like hamburgers, you've certainly liked at least one video from the Eai Burguer chain on your timeline. What you may not know is that it is a hamburger chain that was born inside an apartment during the pandemic. Entrepreneurs Lucas and Larissa from bought the equipment and created a hamburger that people could fall in love with and in this way conquered a huge audience through the apps until the idea became a premium hamburger place in the city and later a chain with units in operation in Jundiaí, São José dos Campos, Campinas and São Paulo, in addition to 40 franchises having already been sold to open this year!
Lucas and Larissa knew they wanted to grow from the beginning and at the first opportunity for profit, they invested the money to see growth. To achieve success they bet on high product quality and aggressive marketing. The profit they made selling hamburgers, they invested in marketing and hired a team to operate an expansion plan. The company is fully active in digital marketing, betting on campaigns on news pages, content on networks, partnerships with influencers and close contact with consumers on social networks, who love to post when they go to an EAI Burguer around.
Approve (Clothing brand)
The Approve brand had already been on its way for some years to dominate the virtual fashion market for young people in Brazil, but during the pandemic it tripled its operation and the brand is currently about to launch a collection with Riachuelo, in the same collaboration molds that the retailer has already did with Versace and Moschino.
With more than one million followers, the brand is a partnership between Leo Picon and Cacá Parra. Approve has been committed to dressing celebrities for years, has become the most famous national brand on the internet through influencer marketing and is a reference in terms of content creation, image management, creation, customer loyalty, post purchase and logistics.
The brand also bets on events, ''pop-ups'' stores and partnerships for limited collections, in addition to marketing promoted by Leo Picon himself, who always appears in magazines, events, podcasts and TV programs promoting something of his brand.
Carol Coxinhas (Snack bar franchise chain)
In 2020, when the pandemic began, Carol Coxinhas was already expanding and was already investing in selling digitally through delivery apps, so when the crisis started, its team was already well integrated with the apps and maintaining relationships to negotiate better conditions, which was essential to get through the quarantine months with positive revenue and attracting more and more franchisees until reaching the mark of 80 franchises this year.
Carol Martineli, the CEO at the head of Carol Coxinhas, manages the company as a family business and closely monitors the entire operation and, in order to be successful, she bet on several different fronts such as marketing, from creating characters inspired by the products, a vocabulary specific to the network and also reinvented the way of serving products already known and loved by the Brazilian public, such as coxinhas and several other types of snacks, including vegan options.
The network is also very active on social media, focusing on creating content and Carol is recognized as one of the most important people in Franchising in Brazil. In addition to the brand that bears her name, she also launched two other brands, one of fried chicken and the other of açaí.
