Corona is more than a health threat; it has brought businesses to their knees. People are home quarantined, offices are locked out, trade shows are cancelled, meetings abandoned, leaving the businesses in dilemma.
For marketing professionals, there are two important questions: how to respond during the crisis; and making sense of changes in consumer behavior that may have a prolonged impact even beyond Corona.
First of all, let us accept that we are facing a period of uncertainty, but let us also understand that this will also pass. What we do now and how we respond will surely influence our post crisis success rate. There are some interesting references from the past that have led to historical business transformations. In 2003, severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) broke out in 2003 and it was during this period e — commerce adoption picked up dramatic growth in China. Alibaba which was a mere B2B directory transformed into a leader in e-commerce during this time. So a forced break from usual business also gives you ample time to plan your business continuity, restrategise, reprioritise and rethink your business. And now digital is the safest bet.
1) Review your brand health:
When was the last time when you spent on relooking at your own brand health? With customers shut down and competitors lying low, it may be a good time for businesses to take a “Me — time Break” Is your brand reflecting your current business offerings and value proposition? Is there something you can do to enhance the confidence and effectiveness of your sales team?
Do you have a brand positioning document in place? If not, that could be a good start point.
Take time and review your marketing collaterals, call up clients and do a dipstick, understand your brand’s share of voice and make changes to your brand communication to make it more relevant.
2) Peep into your competitors
Peep into what your competitors are upto. Catch them red handed if they are planting some surprises that may impact your business.
3) No better time to focus on the company’s visibily and brand outreach
So let’s have a checklist in place to ensure we use this time effectively for our own sake:
Website: Start with your website. Fix some bugs. Spend time on great stories for your home page. Ensure that there is the right call for action buttons to tease and seduce customers.
SEO: Maybe you have not got enough time to align your SEO with the changes in algorithms made by search engines. Check search ranking and optimize them for search engines.
Content: You always made an excuse of “No time” when it came to content marketing. Use all your energy and time to come out with scintillating content. Blogs, videos, infographics… have fun, be empathetic and keep your customers super engaged. It is best time to catch their attention with awesome content. But ensure you don’t spam them up with emails and whatsapp’s. Their interest and consent is paramount, espcially in these times.
With almost all people at home, it is the best time to get people sign up for webcast and podcast. Search for topics that would be relevant and useful for your target audience.
4) Thought leadership
You can get the owners and leaders of business to talk about their perspective. If you have a PR team, get them flashed in some international publications. Otherwise, publish on your own FB, YouTube or LinkedIn. It will not only send out a positive message to your customers, investors and other stakeholders, but also help improve the leaders with their personal branding.
Staying alive and relevant during times of crisis is important to instill confidence in customers, and team members. Pep up — crisis could be an opportunity in disguise.
#Businesstimes #Corona #brandoutreach
