For many businesses that didn’t have an online platform in March 2020, COVID-19 came like lightning in a clear sky.

In order to squeeze past the pandemic, many of them shifted their marketing techniques from having little to no presence online to improved websites and enhanced digital reach with their advertising.

Three businesses in the area approached the situation differently, but with the same end goal — to survive the pandemic in a world of technology.

Canvas n Cup

When Mahsa Ghavamian started Canvas n Cup — an arts and crafts business — in December 2018, the platform was straightforward: She organized bachelorette parties, baby showers, corporate parties and open sessions where people would show up to her Milford studio for a “paint and sip” event, and have a beverage while they painted or crafted ceramics.

A year later, that platform was unsustainable as the pandemic unfolded.

Social distancing made socializing impossible at her studio, and the whole enterprise was potentially in jeopardy.

But an idea changed the way she does business overnight.

“We used to hold the summer camps, after-school programs, paint and sip parties, you name it — everything was in person, but then COVID-19 happened and we could not have people in the studio,” said Ghavamian. “Overnight, we had to change the entire model of the business and just convert everything to virtual, which just took a life of its own."

Looking back from a year ago, the new platform panned out just right, she said.

Canvas n Cup now delivers kits ranging in price from $15 to $55, depending on the type of crafts the customer would like to work on.

Customers receive brushes, paint, a disposable apron, paper plates, cups or ceramics. Then they join live Zoom sessions of an hour and a half, or use pre-recorded sessions to follow along at their own pace.

Thirty people join, on average, but there are events in which attendance rises to the hundreds.

In one occasion, Canvas n Cup reached the Zoom call limit of 300 attendees, having to accommodate another 50 in a separate session.

“It has opened up a whole different thing, and that's really where the revenue is coming in,” said Ghavamian. “I don't have to target small companies or small groups of people. We're talking large, large companies, meaning a large, large group of people. It's just amazing."

The audience has since changed in different ways, she said.

She now holds a majority of her events on Zoom, and focuses her advertising on social media, seeing people joining from not only outside local areas, but from Europe, the Middle East, Asia and Australia.

“Also, the majority of people who would show up (before COVID-19) were women, but now a lot of guys are doing it and they're loving it,” said Ghavamian. “In their wildest dreams, they never knew that they could do something like this. Some of them are so bad that halfway through the painting they just give up, but they enjoy interaction with other people and drinking their beer.”

Remote work has also facilitated what the staff at Canvas n Cup does.

Ghavamian said that in addition to an on-site studio director, three other staff members work remotely, all of whom “(Ghavamian) would be lost without.”

But Ghavamian hasn’t given up on conducting in-person events.

Even though customers would rather attend remotely, Ghavamian still holds parties and open attendance nights at her Westborough studio, where she moved her business in January.

"I hate to say that people have become lazy, but it's just so convenient and it can really connect everybody from all over the world,” said Ghavamian, of the Zoom sessions. "I'm still not ready to just convert the whole thing into virtual, because there are people who would like to come into a venue and have a glass of wine and really enjoy it."

LadyBugz

As a mother of four, Lysa Miller still found room in her life to start a business that has been able to stay on par with the world of technology, and latch on to the benefits that the online world is seeing because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

In October 2020, she established a web-designing agency called LadyBugz, tackling a market that has been adapting to necessities imposed by COVID-19.

From the beginning, Miller, of Hudson, eyed early-growth businesses in need of advertising. And the best way to advertise, she said, is by having a well designed website.

She focused LadyBugz on working for women-run businesses, saying they prioritized web services in order for them to survive. She noticed this in the change in investment put forth by female business owners.

“I never thought women would be paying me $20,000 to $30,000 to do projects for them,” said Miller. “Those are the people that like two years ago, they would have spent $2,500 or $3,000. Now they realize the value if you're going to really start a business and do a really good job, you really need to invest. And I think that mentality is a huge shift.”

Despite the obvious need for online services, Miller said it took some businesses a while to understand the importance of a well developed website.

But once they caught on, it wasn’t too late.

“At first, a lot of the clients weren't in such a hurry to get things going online — I might redo my website or I might redo my brand,” said Miller. “They didn't start seeing it until six, eight months into COVID-19 that people that are online are already way ahead of the game."

The necessity to make themselves present online has resulted in tremendous growth, said Miller.

LadyBugz services businesses mostly in MetroWest, but biotech companies from California, and even Canada, have shown interest in its web-designing services.

Seeing the pattern, Miller believes that the future of web designing will be in specialization of services, where a web-designing agency will not design for just any type of client, but instead focus on a certain group.

“I think that this industry is going to continue to grow,” she said. “Not just from my industry but you know digital agencies in general because I think that agencies are going to start specializing a little bit more since I think that allows them to be like more efficient.”

Synergy Wellness

With COVID-19 running amok, Synergy Wellness — a Hudson yoga and mental health center — didn’t just work on its breathing.

Owner Michelle Grasso said that before March 2020, the business provided services to patients in need of mental health solutions, which involved sessions from mental health counseling, to yoga and acupuncture.

But once social distancing was implemented due to the pandemic, Synergy Wellness immediately shifted its focus to Zoom classes by either live-streaming them or sending recorded sessions to its Metrowest clients.

With insurance coverage expanded in March 2020 to cover telehealth services, and technology becoming a key means of connecting with patients, Grasso has seen her clientele grow — not only because the business is expanding geographically, but also because of the nature of technology and who is using it.

“We actually have clients that have never actually been to our center, because they started during the pandemic,” she said. “I think we've been able to attract people who are older because they don't feel comfortable being in person and feel comfortable at home. But we've also been able to connect with young people with teenagers who are struggling, who can be more flexible in their time and if they can do online therapy sessions."

The nature of services that Synergy Wellness offers — such as massages and acupuncture — have forced it to continue working in person as well.

But some of the clientele prefers to do it that way. They instead use online services, which is something that has not helped revenue, said Grasso.

“We are definitely losing some business from that in the sense that they don't also get to see all the other good things that are happening there, because it's really a holistic approach to wellness,” said Grasso. “But this helps some people who are not comfortable being in person and can hop on the live stream and enjoy it with the teacher."

In addition, Synergy Wellness' expenses in technological equipment have also increased, from $200 per month before the pandemic to $1,000, to meet demand for these services

Yet seeing how preference for online services has risen exponentially, Grasso says telehealth is here to stay.

She believes so much in the potential of online services that in August she launched a solely online business called 360 Thrive, which offers services in functional medicine — a holistic way of looking at health by creating a care plan to help make the lifestyle or dietary changes, rather than using pills.

The future is bright, she said.

“I would love for that to continue with the current service mix,” said Grasso. “It does allow our staff a lot of flexibility as well and we don't of course need as much space and it improves access for clients because its flexibility for them. If it's here to stay at I'm happy with the blend.”

This article originally appeared on MetroWest Daily News: Businesses grateful pandemic forced them to broaden online presence