But here we are—each of us working our own way through this “new way of life” which is filled with new ways of doing business, new responsibilities at home, and new everyday stresses.
Here at TBH, one of the biggest things that has taken my focus lately is this question:
What can we do to help our clients with their marketing during this crisis? How can we help them stand out and communicate well?
I’m sure you are thinking about how you can better serve your customers, too. Even if you are a well-established business with a crisis communications plan in place, this situation is different and bigger. COVID-19 is affecting all of us, and its universal impact (and ambiguous end date) is creating unique challenges—and opportunities to rethink the status quo.
Over the past few weeks, TBH Creative’s team has been working on crisis communication projects for clients in a variety of industries. We have been taking notes of great marketing examples and reading as much as we can find about how to effectively communicate during a crisis.
This post kicks off our series of articles about crisis communications. We’ll be sharing best practices, crisis communication examples, free resources, and other crisis marketing tips.
Crisis communication recommendations
1. Include a COVID-19 update on your website
At a minimum, you should update your website with basic information to inform users of anything you are doing differently because of COVID-19. That does not mean COVID-19 needs to become the main button in your navigation, but consider giving this information (or a link to this information) prominent placement on your home page, contact page, and other key pages where related information may be present.
2. Address customer concerns, humanize your communications, and adapt your messaging
Review all of your marketing messages. Is the tone still right? The timing?
Nike
Nike started encouraging quarantining and social distancing on social media in March. They posted their already famous brand swoosh along with the message, “If you ever dreamed of playing for millions around the world, now is your chance. Play inside, play for the world.” They went even further to create and offer new
Cottonelle
3. Update your Google My Business profile
Google search is widely used and your Google Business profiles should be updated with pertinent changes in your business. Updating these listings may be just as important as adding the notices on your website that I mentioned in #1. Remember that some users will not get past the search results to your page and are looking for answers, especially store hours, closings, and contact information.
Free resources for better marketing
One positive during this pandemic has been seeing businesses help out. Many marketing and software companies are stepping up to assist during this time of crisis too.
Paid advertising
Search engine optimization
SEMrush is offering