Consumers today base their decisions and place their loyalty with businesses and brands that are verbal with their stance, not with those who remain silent on the matter. Relaying this information is equally important, even if you think consumers are sick of hearing it. We've all received the flood of "What we are doing because of COVID-19" emails in our inbox, and while we might not read them all, those who haven't sent anything start to stick out like a sore thumb. Share you stance, your customers will respect you.
Inevitably, your customers will have questions, and as time goes on you'll start to get the same question over and over again. Try to get ahead of the situation and create an easily accessible FAQ. What are you customers going to want to know during this pandemic? This can be a page on your website, a note on Facebook, a document in DropBox. The key is to make it a living document that is updated frequently as new and unique questions come in. You can then share the link via email, social, chat, or blog post. Most importantly, make sure this FAQ doc is accessible from the homepage of your website.
We get it, it's hard to see sales and customers take drop-off in the event of a crisis. Survival mode often says "market harder," but in situations such as this, pushy sales tactics and approaches that bombard your potential customers can be a REAL turn-off! Let your sales strategy take a backseat for the time being and focus your efforts on cultivating relationships. This can easily be done on social media: share inspiration, post curated content from your community, have simple conversations on Twitter. Be human. Be sensitive. Be kind. It truly goes a long way in these uncertain times.
The fallout from this pandemic has yet to be seen and there are a lot of questions swirling; will we move into a recession? Will my sales be permanently impacted? How are we going to bounce back? No matter the question, it's best to set realistic and available expectations on how you will move forward, not only in your marketing, but as a business. Now is not the time for aggressive sales goals, it only sets your team up for failure, leaving them feel even more helpless. Sit down with management and discuss what you think is realistic and achievable in the next 4-6 weeks, 1-3 months and 3-9 months, and work on an implementation plan.
We are here to support you. If you have questions about how best to shift your business and your marketing, reach out, we are here to help. We are always happy to jump on a strategy call or to implement practical solutions like newsletters, edits to your website or even helping you shift certain services to online options. Lots can be done, just let us know.
Otherwise, hang in there and please share this post with anyone who may need to read it!
