Why Marketing should still be at the top of your list and what to do now

Such a terrible and scary time right now for the world.

But what can we do now with our Marketing? Even if you have unfortunately had to close the doors to your business, it doesn’t mean you should go into hibernation. For businesses who put the work in now, are most likely to come out at the forefront of customers minds on the other side. Here are some of my top tips to keep in the minds of your customers …

“Now is more important than ever to look at your marketing strategy to plan for the future.”

Keep on communicating through your channels

Stopping all communication could actually be more harmful than you think to your business.

We are going through a global crisis at the moment and your customers/audience will really appreciate the way you positively respond to the situation. We are all human, we are all going through uncertainty and most likely feeling anxious about it all. Let your audience know you care and are still there.

Keep on providing helpful tips and value to your audience via social media, email and on your website so you they don’t forget about you. Talk optimistically about the future and this will help you be in a stronger position when this is all over. Not acknowledging the situation and going into hibernation means you will have to start all over again and all that trust you have built over the months/years maybe affected. Keep sales messaging to a minimum. I am not saying don’t sell especially if your products/services are more helpful than ever during the situation, but be sensitive to what’s happening. Your content marketing strategy is now more important than ever.

Build relationships with key clients

This links in with my point above, continue to build relationships with your key clients/customers. Send them regular messages to let them know you are there to help and to show them your support. They may have put your account/services on hold or not be in a situation to purchase any products from you right now, but that is not necessarily forever.

Keep in touch with them – send them an email, give them a quick call or schedule a skype/zoom meeting (for B2B companies) every so often to keep reminding them you can support and you will be in a better position to pick back up where you left off.

Stop all automation

Due to the nature of what’s happening in the world, now is not the time to be sending out automated messaging/content. Again, this could affect your reputation right now. Also things are changing very quickly, you don’t want to be out of date with the information you are providing. Try and be authentic and bring some real-life content to the scene through social media – let people know what you are up to in isolation and what you have been working on. Write content for the now.

Look at your strategy and plan

Over the last few weeks I have been taken back by watching so many businesses reposition their strategy so they can continue to provide their customers with a service. This includes some of my clients – Grangewood Garden Centre, proactively overnight went from closing their doors to providing customers within their local area with a home delivery service for their gardens. Their phones have been ringing non-stop since. Most importantly people have been able to work on their garden which is really uplifting during these terrible times.

Another of my clients after sadly closing their doors to their tech repair shops based in their local supermarkets, have began providing a call out service to repair mobile phones and other tech. Technology is incredibly important right now, so being able to provide a service to enable people to keep in touch with loved ones and continue to earn a living is a fabulous thing.

I think this crisis is going to have long lasting affects on the way we as a country live and work. We have been pushed to work online and from home more, and we have proved it can be done. Now is the time to take a look at your strategy and think about how you can make positive changes to reflect the market and plan for the future.

It’s time to re-look at everything – your current situation (your customers, resources, competition, branding and your corporate purpose and vision), what your goals are and then you can start thinking about how you can adapt your strategy and tactics to meet your new objectives – do you need to reposition your products/services? Do you need to make any changes? Do you need to target a different customer? There are lots of different important elements to this and you need to work on it now.

Use digital channels

This seems an obvious one but I have to mention it. There are more people than ever at home searching google and social media, now is even more important to be visible online… whether that’s through improving SEO on your website, investing in google adverts or social media and also email – all will be imperative to keep you visible and standing out. Worried about budget? Focus your efforts on social media – if you post engaging, creative content which ads value to your audience this is more likely to get more organic views. Be sure to go back to basics and create a content strategy which means your message will resonate with the right audiences.

Be innovative

Now is the time to think about how you can creatively grab your audience’s attention, whether that’s making changes to your service/products, creating a memorable service, the way you communicate to your audience (perhaps bringing in a bit of humour or different tactics like live video) or through your brand strategy – now is the time to try and stand out and be a bit different from what your competition is doing. Go back to basics again look at your brand and communication strategy – does it serve its purpose right now? Are you speaking to your customers in the right tone – does it represent your positioning strategy in the correct way in light of what is happening around us?

Help your community

Putting the work in now to provide value will only work in your favour in the long term. Whether that’s providing simple tips within your industry or even helping your community in one way or another will add credibility to your brand. Be a good Samaritan now is the time to stick together. If you are still luckily enough to be operating think about how you can create an above and beyond service to remember?

So, to summary now is not the time to go into hibernation, whatever path your business has had to adopt right now. Let your customers know you care, go back to basics and spend time on your marketing strategy which must include digital channels. We are likely going to be affected by this crisis for a long time – put in the work now and reap the rewards later.

Need help? I am here to help. Be sure to get in touch.

Lara