There’s no denying that things have been a little different in the last few weeks, and will be for the next few months and beyond.
Our team is very fortunate to be able to work seamlessly from home during this time. While we certainly miss our daily gatherings around the coffee maker or playing a spirited game of whose-trash-did-Abby-the-office-dog-get-into-now?, we feel very lucky that we have the ability to continue working for our clients from the safety of our homes.
In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak, our primary focus has been on providing the marketing support our clients need to manage this crisis. Whether in retail or manufacturing, professional services or education, everyone needs to pause, evaluate what they’re doing, and determine whether or not messaging needs to temporarily shift to better position their organization during this time. Here are a few of the strategies we’ve been implementing:
Messaging & content
From e-mail strategy to blog content, some clients have needed to shift focus away from typical messaging and instead address the need for messaging related to the crisis, whether that be customer-facing or even internal communications. Audiences, whether internal or external, are all feeling some degree of fear and uncertainty right now. They want to feel like the companies they’re interacting with understand what they’re going through.
Of course, we absolutely advocate for balance and after initial messages are out that communicate critical details, it’s important to then focus on communicating to people how your services might have changed to help them through these uncertain times. For our clients in the foodservice industry, that’s meant stopping all happy hour specials or “what’s on tap” posts, and creating take-out and delivery specials and packages. For some of our retail clients experiencing a halt in manufacturing, that’s meant shifting away from a sales strategy and more towards a content and engagement strategy. It’s a way to stay top-of-mind with audiences while preparing for an eventual return to normalcy. For others, it’s been a shift away from a brick and mortar focus to an exclusive e-commerce focus to maintain sales revenue.
Supporting local, and focusing on the positive
Northeast Ohio is our home. With our office in Lakewood and our team spread out across Cleveland and her suburbs, it means a lot to us to support our local community.
So for our clients’ content as well as our own, we’ve tried to be thoughtful about promoting other businesses in our community. It’s a great reminder that we’re all in this together.
It’s so uplifting to see how amazing people can be to one another, and how much we can pull together as a country in a time of need. Most content sharing strategies now include positive, feel-good stories that under “normal” circumstances might appear out of place in a social feed, but now feel relevant, supportive, and community-focused.
It’s been equally uplifting to realize that there ARE businesses that are less affected by what’s going on! Some clients, while of course taking precautions to stay safe and healthy, are pretty much business as usual — and we love to see it! It gives us balance, perspective, and welcomed happiness.
Putting effort where it matters
There is no one-size-fits-all strategy right now. Every business is being impacted differently, and it’s important that our marketing efforts reflect that.
It’s all about prioritizing what will make the biggest positive impact right now.
