So for some it’s already panic stations for others you aren’t quite there yet but looks like we need to GET READY because of the virus outbreak. My job here is to show you how to have business resilience during the next 6-12 months and create a super strong toolbox for getting back up after potentially slow times. 

Don’t keep your head in the sand thinking this will all blow over in a heartbeat, if you currently have a strategy, adjust it. If you don’t have a strategy, build one in the next 3 months or take a serious look at how to apply your crisis marketing. 

If you ignore the pandemic and
your customers concerns regarding continuity of business, supply of product or
safety when using your service your marketing will be lost and your resilience
down. 

Time to pause and reflect.

Build strength whilst knowing when to speak to customers and when to be silent. 

From a marketing perspective, this period may give you the ‘time’ you’ve always said you haven’t had, to get a huge business survival toolkit ready. 

I know you
are worried about your business.

You are worried about customer
drop-off, loss of competitive advantage, your staff resource management,
productivity in general, continuity of business, and the reliance on your
online presence. Can the digital infrastructure cope?

Do you have enough of a digital
story to ride out the next few months?

Are your customer communications
consistent? Will you be accountable for the results?

My clients with a strategy,
(especially the ones who have kept it rolling year after year) all have the
power to win through this due to consistent client communication.

Their strategies remove any
stress about messaging, method of marketing delivery or tools available.
Nothing has to be created from scratch as it’s all there to be adapted.

It’s a great time to advertise
and communicate so your customers are reassured and that you don’t lose
competitive advantage and then have to invest MORE longer term, to get back
up. 

1. Stay consistent: make customer service a priority, update your team web page, prioritise web content. Keep your emails to customers relevant and timely with support as a key focus. Make the business about your PEOPLE. Don’t stop marketing as you’ll lose momentum and have to spend more to build up. This is no ploy to get businesses to keep marketing.  It’s about knowing what tools to use when, why and for what benefit. 
2. Stay real: don’t all of a sudden be someone you are not or go in to desperation mode. This is the sort of ‘event’ I have seen strategies help to build businesses time and time again when they’ve been implemented correctly. Be authentic. Have a conversation with your customer via your marketing as if you were face to face. 
3. Reassure: don’t be shy. Your customers need to know what you are doing to keep their business and keep them safe. Can you offer to change your delivery process? Can you alter the staff working to benefit customer outcome? Can you offer packages or post outbreak solutions? Whatever you need to do to keep your customer. Do it. 
4. Remain accountable: business may change or slow down or increase (depending on your industry). Whatever happens in the next 6-12 months you need to be ready. This is the time to stay visible and cut through the noise whilst not being ignorant. 
5. Still communicate! :Now is the time to organise everything, all those hours you wish you had when business is chocca - you might now have them and use them wisely. This is the time to get ready and invest in high level strategic marketing and PR activities. Stay visible and stay strong because trust me, if you let it slip it will be far harder to build back up again. 

Think of
ways to build your business using the advantage of people potentially being at
home more, being in front of a computer more, being with family more or being
bored! 

If you need marketing support or guidance during the outbreak, let me help. I will make you stronger than ever http://www.gemmaangharad.co.uk