It's a pandemic. OK, Now What?

As we begin to adapt to the current challenging business climate, we created a quick guide on how to think around recovery and some thoughts on what you can do right now.

Here are some key considerations to think about when planning for the eventual recovery:

No. 1 - Shift to e-commerce.

Being prepared and proactive can help businesses navigate challenging times. With the recent significant shift of consumption to online channels, expanding online presence will be a key step in preparing for the future marketplace. An e-commerce based business will allow customers to still shop with you, but, from the comforts of their own homes. Focus on digital commerce, now.

No. 2 - Use Plain Language

From photos to videos to GIFs and more, the amount of information we see on a daily basis is staggering. It will be helpful to grab readers quickly and make it easy for them to keep reading by using plain language – simple words and straightforward sentence structures.

No. 3 - Deliver Positive Communication

Staying relevant to audience is important at times like these – practising continued engagement with positive, supportive and informative messaging. The key is to focus on community building activities to interact with consumers and at the same time clearly communicate how customers can still make purchases or consume services.

No. 4 - Optimise Loyal Customers

During times of uncertainty, maintaining customer loyalty and trust is key as customers are less likely to be experimental and prefer something familiar. This could be the time to retain your customer base, or potentially attract new customers by running promotions to encourage spending and customer loyalty programme to reward and communicate with customers.

No. 5 - Watch for changing consumer behaviour.

A crisis is bound to change people’s spending behaviour. People will be staying home more often, cutting down on discretionary spending as necessary precaution. It’s important to monitor how consumers are adapting and innovating in order to cope in the current situation. Track changes in product usage, look for evidence of lifestyle shifts and customise your strategy to meet their needs in this changing environment.

No. 6 - Innovate around new needs.

Consumers lifestyles and behaviours are continually changing, this leads to new customer needs which creates opportunities for innovation. Before you adapt your business model, there are several questions you need to ask yourself to truly understand your consumers: 
What do people really need to know? 
What are they looking for? 
What's helpful to them as they seek to understand the changing environment?

No. 7 - Enhance Offline Delivery.

Keep it going! Movement Restrictions still on or over, offline delivery services will likely continue to be important moving forward.
Due to the current situation, people are advised to stay away from crowded areas and this includes shopping complexes. By partnering up with offline delivery services, goods can be delivered directly from brick and mortar stores to the consumer in the comfort of their own home and safety.

No. 8 - Be smart with budgets.

Managing budgets smartly is crucial, as some budgets will have to be stretched. Review where you are allocating your marketing investments and focus on where your consumers are, on channels that would yield the most optimum results, and test, test, test. Perhaps shift more focus online instead of in cinemas or print, utilising smart tools that social media provides to link more heavily to e-commerce platforms.
When the time comes to invest in a recovery campaign, reconsider what you’ve done in the past and recognise that the status quo may no longer exist. Plan for a new reality.

No. 9 - Focus on results, not fluff.

These are uncertain times for all businesses, big and small. However, it's important to move forward and continue to focus on what is important to achieve real business results. Not fluff. Not gimmicks. Real results.

Top on our list is Efficiency and Impact:

(1) How to utilise marketing budgets more efficiently.

(2) How to create a bigger impact with what we have.

For more immediate marketing thoughts, we publish frequently on our LinkedIn page. For more, follow us at https://lnkd.in/fwdXN45