What’s next for your business?

The impact of COVID-19 on businesses locally and around the world is immense. Now we’ve stopped typing “unprecedented” 45 times a day, we are starting to settle into the new normal. But what’s next? Where do we go from here and how do we get back on a somewhat “regular” track with our marketing strategy and plan. 

There is no denying every business needs to relook at how they communicate with their followers and where they spend their advertising dollars. We tuned into a Hootsuite webinar yesterday and heard from Nick Martin, Social Engagement Specialist and James Mulvy, Senior Manager of Content Strategy about how they have adapted their content strategy and pivoted in a time of crisis. Lucky for you, we love sharing so here is the key takeaways from what we learnt:

  1. Be visible 

Now we’ve made our announcements and communicated with our clients and customers, it is time to focus on brand awareness. People might not be shopping or engaging with your brand as they normally would however now is the time to sustain content and branding. Things are most likely going to get worse before they get better, so now is a critical time to start thinking about how to sustain content. 

Hootsuite suggested a 60-40 rule about how to grow brands with advertising and content, 60% should be brand building (emotional content) and 40% should be sales (tightly communicated, sales tactics). Now is not the time to stop advertising all together, but brand equity should be considered.

What should you be talking about from a brand building side? Hootsuite encourages messages about supporting employees and customers. Secondary to that, communicating what you’ve done for your customers, giving them a level of comfort. 

  1. Be relevant 

Review the content you are distributing! If you’re a retail store, you won’t be encouraging people to visit your store to shop anymore, so make sure you’ve paused those digital ads and updated your messaging. 

Now is the time to listen to your customers. Use this time to understand the types of content your customers want to see and hear and what questions they are asking. Start building relationships with your customers, if they can’t come into store, connect with them via your two-way communication channels.

Analyze what your competitors are doing, you have the time now so there is no excuse! 

  1. Optimize for context and mindset 

Start planning for the challenging months ahead. Retail stores in Cayman have been overwhelmed with customer orders this week after Government announced on Friday they would be able to operate for online or virtual shopping, but how will they maintain these levels of sales?

Look at where your customers are spending more of their time now, you might find they’re most likely going to be online, so consider digital and social media advertising. 

Your messaging is not going to be the same, review how you communicate, your language and call to actions. 

Your Hurley’s Media Sales Representative is here to help you. We’ll work with you to understand how your customers are currently engaging with your brand and where we can adjust your advertising spend. Contact us today at [email protected]

On a final note, one of the most important messages we took from the Hootsuite webinar…no one wants to hear “unprecedented time” anymore. So, let’s stop relying on that as an excuse to hold back our brand and instead focus on the things that will make your business stand out above your competitors.