As businesses slowly begin to open back up, many find themselves doing business far differently than they may have before the pandemic. Safety is top of mind. Not all customers feel comfortable at this point, interacting in person with the businesses they may have frequented without fear in the past. That means for many companies, a combination of in-store/in-person and online or socially distanced interactions. Many are operating on the fly, figuring things out as they go. But now may be an excellent time to take a step back and update, or create, a marketing plan to help you move forward more strategically.
Here’s some advice for doing just that:
- Be realistic about your goals and objectives, which may need to be adjusted due to the coronavirus because you’re shut down or restrict sales and because consumers may be cutting back, and what you sell may not be considered a necessity.
- Think about new/different opportunities to offer value to your customers. For instance, during the pandemic, many restaurants began offering takeout or curbside pickup. Some retailers have done the same. Personal service providers, like yoga instructors, turned to offering services online.
- Focus more on meeting consumer needs, and helping them deal with the realities of the pandemic, than on blatantly promoting what you have to offer. I’ve seen several SaaS and app providers offer free subscriptions for some limited time, some news outlets have taken down their firewalls to provide access to virus-related reporting, etc. This can go a long way toward building awareness and loyalty. In addition, when communicating, make sure to focus less on buy, buy, buy, and more on providing value.
- Think about how collaborating with other businesses could serve to help both of you and also help to build awareness and generate community support.
- Stay in touch! Even if you have to be shut down, don’t stop communicating with your audience. They need to know you’re still out there and want to know when, if and how you will reopen. With small businesses, particularly, your customers are likely worried about you, personally, so make sure you’re sharing messages and updates frequently.
Even in the midst of many challenges, businesses can find ways to think innovatively about how to connect with their audiences to offer value. Don’t leave those interactions to chance.
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Strategic Communications, LLC, works with B2B clients to help them achieve their goals through effective content marketing and management with both internal and external audiences. We work with clients to plan, create and publish high-quality, unique content. Whether on- or offline, or both, we’ll help you achieve desired results.
(Strategic Communications is certified as a Woman-Owned Business Enterprise through the Wisconsin Department of Administration.)
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Tags: Customer Communication, Marketing, marketing during the pandemic, marketing plan, marketing planning, marketing strategy, Strategy