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With the Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, organizations are scrambling on how to manage marketing during a time of social distancing.
At Jones PR, we have been at work to re-create marketing plans for our clients to ensure we are promoting sensitive messages that fit into the situation at hand. Tone and brand voice are vitally important during an international crisis. With tensions rising and social media posts saturated with news about COVID-19, how can organizations ensure they aren’t missing the mark or getting lost in the clutter of noise?
Here are a few tips we recommend while promoting your marketing messages:
● Review all scheduled content to determine if it is sensitive to the situation. Content should address the consumer’s concern while promoting your message. Make sure content doesn’t encourage people to visit public places, gather in groups or travel.
● Because the situation is constantly evolving, make sure to regularly check in on your scheduled content and adjust as needed.
● Don’t take advantage of the pandemic. Marketing messages that poke fun at the virus are insensitive to families impacted. Avoid messages such as “Our Coronavirus sale is going viral.”
● While not taking advantage of the pandemic, do understand the environment it places your audience in. Most are working from home now and may have students taking classes online, so what resources can you offer them during this time? Adjust content to focus on virtual life. For example, restaurants can share recipes to make at home and HR/recruiting professionals can share tips for working from home.
● If your business hours or policies have changed or had physical locations close, be sure to update your audience through social media and your website. Also, make sure any Google Listings are updated, as well.
● Share how your organization is going virtual. If your team is utilizing Zoom or other video-conferencing services to stay connected, snap a photo of the screen and share to your social channels. If your organization has taken a service offered to consumers or other businesses, share how your audience can now utilize the service virtually. For example, a gym closing due to the virus could promote online or at-home workouts.
● Now is a good time to start implementing video content into your strategy, if you haven’t already. Try creating a video update for your customers, employees and the public to let them know how your organization is navigating through the pandemic. These video updates are even more powerful when coming from a member of the leadership team such as the CEO, COO or VP.
● While working through the pandemic, make sure you are planning for post-crisis to ensure you are ready to hit the ground running once things go back to normal.
To get more insight, check out a recent update from our CEO/President, Brenda Jones Barwick.
Remember: We are offering free one-hour consultations on how your company can practice social distance communications right now and be ready to run when the country opens up for business again.
Email us at [email protected] to schedule your free consultation. Jones PR will donate 25% of your investment in the Social Distance Communications plan to your favorite charity that is helping our community overcome this crisis.
