How will your business respond to the coronavirus pandemic and its implication for your brand? Marketing in the age of the coronavirus pandemic seems like the last thing anyone wants to discuss. Yet, if your small to mid-sized business is in free fall, perhaps it is precisely the time to reconsider EVERYTHING. And, you must be willing to bend like a willow.
I have been through several jaw-dropping experiences like 9-11, mass product recalls, and other challenges in my career. I am a student of how companies respond and shift on a dime.
In these trying times, a marketer’s perspective can play a vital role in reshaping business and determining what comes next. By being empathetic, creative, and curious, you can find a path forward and help be a part of leading your organization toward a significant pivot.
Five Ways To Bend Like A Willow
- NEW DIRECTION: First of all, today might be a good time for reevaluating where the puck is going. Are customers still going to need your products or services? Will your offerings be frivolous or just less necessary? An honest and frank marketing audit is a great place to start. Perhaps a reprioritization of your focus is in order. Maybe 10% of your products or service offering has a new importance, and you should put most of your effort in that direction. Rethink what’s coming, and plan anew. Consider how a different product or service offering might be of higher value to the people you serve. The puck may not go where you expected it to be just last week.
- PIVOTING: Don’t eliminate or cut back on marketing. Just reassess how it fits with the new reality. We are all observing fine dining restaurants transitioning to take out and pick up. They suspended in-dining seating, so need to shift direction. You still need to communicate that you now offer these services. Maybe your assets can be helpful in a new way that’s rapidly changing with the spread of the virus? Brands that cut back on marketing find that they have a difficult time after things get back to some semblance of normal. Don’t cut, redirect your marketing. Loyal customers still want to hear from you, but your message needs to shift. Think of how you speak with friends today. Everyone is acknowledging the new normal. As my friend Mark Schaefer wrote in a recent blog post, people are grieving to deal with what’s changing. So adjust accordingly, but don’t be afraid to tell them how you are adapting.
Stretch, Be Flexible and Go Deeper
- TONE: Think critically about your messaging, considering this moment. Therefore, your marketing efforts must continue, but your plans from just thirty days ago may need to be reconsidered. Is that email campaign too salesy and pushy, and should it be rewritten with a different tone? Do you want to market your participation in an upcoming trade show that will probably not happen? Is a blowout sale the best way to talk to clients? As a marketer, you must take charge of all communications, both internal and external, and make sure it aligns with the leadership’s crisis strategy. Filter it through a more human lens. Does this feel right for this new reality?
- WHO WILL YOU SERVE NOW: Can you reexamine your target audience? Things are shifting, and maybe, there is a new opportunity where you can bring value to someone outside of your traditional market? Marketing can take the lead to think about other segments to serve. And, maybe your assets can be repositioned to bring value to those in need. As a result, LVMH has stopped making perfume so they can sell hand sanitizers. Who would have seen this coming? By being enormously helpful in a time of need, your customers will remember how you pivoted. Therefore, ask yourself this question – if we were opening a business today, with the assets we have in place, what else could we build, and who else might we serve?
Catch The Wind
- AGILE IS THE NEW SUPERPOWER: Businesses that survive will have the ability to be like a willow, and bend in the wind. The phrase “we can’t” need hauling out to the trash bin. The new reality requires you to ask, how might we shift our efforts to support our customer’s online? Or how might we change our product offering to focus on these new products that are more relevant today? When a business has a life-threatening challenge, they have to rise to the occasion, or they won’t make it.
In conclusion, these are trying times. Marketers within companies need to make sure that they can bring their skills to help guide the future of your business. The best advice is simply to be more human and determine how you can serve the new needs that customers/clients have today. It always works. Today requires the H&H approach. Helpful & Human.
Remember, bend like a willow – don’t be rigid like an oak.
Need help bending like a willow?
I can help. You can set up a time to chat with me about your marketing challenges using my calendar. Our initial conversation is free. You talk, I listen. Email me jeffslater@themarketingsage.com or call me. 919 720 0995. Visit my website at www.themarketingsage.com Let’s explore working together today.
Photo by Indian Yogi (Yogi Madhav) on Unsplash
