One of the most awaited digital marketing conferences in 2020, Rockit came along with a perfect motto for urging business development in this highly digitalized world: Solutions for the new reality.

The Rockit Conference, a dynamic regional event took off at full power to feed our brains with the best sets of tools, information, and solutions to the new difficulties that arose when changes in the digital environment happened.

In 2020, the digital conference took place on May 8-9 and aimed to build a united community to make an impact with leaders that inspired "Out of the Box" thinking, guided by 42 speakers and guests from Moldova, Romania, Ukraine, Austria, Armenia, USA, and other countries.

Protecting the health and safety of participants was the top priority of the organizers. So the decision was made to organize an exclusively digital conference.

To get involved and be a part of the solution for businesses affected by the global pandemic, Alina Hasnaș, CEO of SEOLITTE participated in the Rockit Conference, coming up with great ideas, relevant suggestions, and recommendations for young entrepreneurs who are currently facing the crisis and are afraid of it.

With a business that is successfully overcoming this pandemic crisis, Alina has also a risk management strategy that she has used both in her own business and in clients’ projects she manages. The effective solutions presented by the young entrepreneur can be implemented both during the crisis and long after its end.

Together with the SEOLITTE team, Alina Hasnaș initiated a project to educate the entrepreneurial environment, creating the first school of SEO and digital promotion in the Republic of Moldova.

First of all, let's meet Alina Hasnaș, the engine behind the SEO and Digital Marketing agency - SEOLITTE. The company she created 4 years ago is the result of her efforts to identify the niche in which she could apply her creativity, her love for data along her love for storytelling. She found her vocation in SEO and she started working perseveringly, consolidating a team of people willing to work dynamically, conscientiously, and openly just as she did. Their purpose is to have at the end of the day the feeling of accomplishment, which brings them tangible results. They all understood that the most important thing in marketing is to try everything new, and unique, to constantly seek progress, and to be persevering, and stubborn to get results on the other hand.

So, continuing her speech at Rockit, Alina mentioned several changes of mentality that happened to her and her team during this crisis:

1. Team members have become friendlier towards the community they are in, more flexible, and more useful to that community. They offered free consulting services, they became more skilled negotiators with potential customers and partners.

2. The company had managed to automate its business all along with generating new and interesting promotional materials for the company. Alina emphasizes here that you never have enough time to deal with what is important to you. Well, now her company had some more time to take care of their business proceedings.

3. They managed to be involved in projects to support SMEs, to educate entrepreneurs on how to act in an online environment in the middle of a crisis.

4. They had time to take new certifications and courses.

5. The SEOLITTE team donated a part of their salaries to attract new customers faster through advertising.

One of the most important questions that all participants had to answer was: how did your company manage the risk?

Here is Alina Hasnaș's answer: “Much has been read about 2008’s crisis and the realities of our industry have been studied internationally (from Europe, USA, Russia). Therefore, 3 different crisis scenarios were made which were applied step-by-step, and without panic.”

Another challenging question that awaited its answer was: How will the company overcome the crisis in the next 6 months?

• The company will enter the international market using an advertising budget because it is more profitable for them in this situation.
• They will finalize all business automation procedures started in the quarantine. 
• They will invest the profit by bringing in new customers.
• They will get more awareness through partnerships, good advertising, and free education.

Subsequently, Alina wanted to offer some tips for entrepreneurs who are just entering the market or for those that had already opened their businesses and are concerned by the crisis impact:

• Dedicate time, finance, and creativity to digital marketing. There is less competition on Google and Facebook due to the pandemic -  so it’s a place of success. This pandemic was a lesson for those who are not online.
• Invest in a logical digital strategy and constantly assess any risk situation. Now that many businesses' niches have been reset, many start-ups can compete easily with almost anyone nowadays and they need to embrace an open approach to stay close to opportunities. There may be fewer players left in each niche after the crisis is over, so the competition is restarting now.
• Pay increased attention to elements such as feedback or public reaction because they directly represent the consumer's reaction to a product/service.
• Work constantly on the improvement of the product or service to be under the trends and needs of the consumers.
• Be extremely flexible and negotiate in communication with your vendors to ask for better conditions and pricing options.
• Don't panic - here, Alina even mentioned the example of her team, together they found their suited niches of activity, key partnerships, and simple accounting and showed what they needed to do to take advantage of the crisis.
• Do not stop online promotions - it is the wrong decision to close the promotion that directly generates leads. 81% of shoppers choose the product online before a purchase. Yes, it is difficult to raise a voice in the online medium within some tight budgets, but not impossible. People are moving online right now, and businesses need to be there for them.
• Adapt creatively to the pandemic situation - a good example of this is the HORECA field. Those businesses who managed to provide delivery services or provide the necessary products promptly, not only kept their customers but also increased their numbers considerably. 
• Evaluate a new consumer market that has formed once people come home from abroad, thus increasing the number of new consumers, with new needs to which businesses now have to advertise.
• Don't forget about local promotions - consumers will continue to use nearby services and products.
• Adjust the message - it is extremely relevant to show customers that you as a business care about their situation, that you understand their doubts, and that you take care of them. This also affects the feedback obtained by the brand name, so that after the crisis you will have more and more loyal customers. 

At the end of the speech, Alina also mentioned finding the funds for a notable appearance online: “I am sure that many colleagues present at the conference will mention funds, grants, online communities, and Facebook groups supporting local producers. I just want to emphasize that they can be a lifeline in these times.”

And Alina's final urge for businesses during this crisis is:

„These are weird times, choose to be altruistic, not opportunistic!”.