Advertising is more than just sales—building and nurturing relationships with your customers is a valuable part of any marketing strategy. Now, more than ever, is the time to connect with your customers and communities with grace, empathy, and compassion. Read more to learn about several ways to deliver effective messaging to your customers during COVID-19.
Messaging Ideas
Messaging during COVID-19 may feel like crossing uncharted waters. While there is no single method that works, there are several tactics that have been used recently to great effect. Below are some messaging options promoted by the Harvard Business Review.
Show Gratitude
The easiest thing to say in times like these is “Thank You”— a simple but effective message to our essential workers that associates your brand with positivity and keeps your brand active without appearing pushy or self-centered. Show your customers and your audience how much your company cares about Chicago and the people who work so hard to make Chicago the beautiful city it is.
Give Your Company a Human Touch
Your customers are still looking for you—they want to know you understand the crisis at hand, and that your company is not run by robots. Your company is made up of humans just like your customers, with employees who are feeling the economic and social issues just as hard. Be mindful of this in your messaging—empathize with those affected by COVID-19, and spell out the steps you are taking to help customers, employees, and other stakeholders. Your company’s social media sites and customer mailing lists are ideal vehicles for doing this.
For instance, re-deploying staff to conduct other essential tasks (like food delivery) would help both the employees and the community. Sugarfish, a sushi restaurant chain in New York City and Los Angeles, announced it would reassign all front-of-house employees to make personalized deliveries, rather than outsourcing to delivery services. Having familiar servers deliver familiar menu items helps patrons feel reassured and comforted, and reinforces loyalty by reminding them of what they loved about the restaurant before the crisis.
Financial institutions are forgiving upcoming payments, which is a great way to promote trust and goodwill. For instance, Fidelity is asking customers to keep the Fidelity branded pen used for transactions, serving also as an element of promotion. The pen will remind customers that Fidelity cared about both their physical and financial health during a time of crisis, and reinforce loyalty after the crisis lifts.
Free Consultation
Are you unsure about how to shift your marketing campaign for the current moment or how to plan for the future? We are here to help. We have set up free consultations to help businesses create emphatic messaging for the duration of COVID-19, along with strategic advice to help plan for the bounceback.
Provide Relevant Information
Use this time to promote messaging about safety or other information pertinent to Chicago. Consider promoting the messaging of local and national organizations working to combat the crisis. On a local level, you can work with your police department, fire department, and hospitals to promote your brand alongside information that may be necessary to those in the community.
Educate Your Customers About How to Interact With Your Company
People can be confused by the amount of changes that are happening in their communities. Make it easier for them by giving them all the information they need about your business: new hours, facility closures, staff reductions, customer service availability, and ordering options, among others. You can reference government regulations that made the changes necessary, but it’s often better to be seen as a proactive company making choices motivated by your customers’ interests.
Companies such as Lululemon and Apple closed their stores before the government ordered it. They reached out to their customer list to encourage online shopping, emphasizing their convenient return policies and responsive call services that could help customers with problems and questions.
Be Helpful
Remember, your customers may be cutting their spending, but they’re still out there. Help them by providing price relief or payment extensions to show them you understand the difficulties they are going through in this moment. Also, it’s important to keep your messaging tasteful. Messaging at this time should be focused on helping, not selling.
Revolutionize What Consumers Value About Your Business
Philosopher Sun Tzu recognized that chaos presents opportunity for innovation. This is certainly true now. More than just telling your customers you will be conducting business as usual during the pandemic, tell them what innovations have arisen from dealing with the ongoing pandemic. Tell your existing customers how you are serving them in new ways. Reach out to potential customers by offering new products or services that solve a new problem. Companies that take these measures and advertise their efforts will inject hope into their heartache, as they see how companies are developing ways to make their lives better.
The hamburger chain Fuddruckers decided to address shortages of bread in grocery stories by baking and selling loaves directly to consumers. Some liquor companies have decided to produce hand sanitizer from the alcohol they distill, combating nationwide sanitizer shortages.
Free Marketing guide
Marketing during COVID-19 can feel like uncharted territory. We did the research and created a simple guide for you to develop messaging and think long-term. Download our guide for guidelines and resources to keep your marketing strategy active.
Local & Community-Oriented
This is a truly unique opportunity to get hyper-local with your marketing strategy. If a person is only leaving their home to walk around their neighborhood and go to their local grocery store, your messaging could be directed to that neighborhood (“Pilsen, we are here for you”). Your message will be more felt and appreciated.
Assure Consumers the Company’s Values Will Continue
Tell your customers how you will continue to provide the things they have come to know and love, even throughout this situation. Remind them of the defining reasons they patronize your business instead of others. Whatever your customers love about your brand, whether it’s the quality of your products or the thoughtful nature of your customer service, make sure your customers know how you will maintain those elements alive. This effort actually goes beyond the obstacles imposed by this crisis.
Yoga8, a yoga studio in Waco, Texas, that prides itself on detailed, hands-on instruction, announced the conversion of its courses to online interactive and recorded meetings. Employees of Hans Wittler’s Automotive Service in Albuquerque, N.M., which prides itself on convenience and safety, now pick up vehicles for repair at customers’ homes and return them later.
Tackle the Future
As we have previously remarked, the COVID-19 response is two-fold. One the one hand, the messaging must be tasteful, with grace and compassion. On the other, your company should use this time to strategize for the post-COVID-19 future.
Make it evident that your company is well-positioned to maintain its revised business model until things return to normal, signaling that it is weathering the storm. Moreover, highlight what your company has learned from the pandemic experience, as well as how these learnings might improve the way your company operates after the pandemic ends.
Establish a timeline for when you will reevaluate the changes to your company’s operations. While you must comply with any government-imposed limits, do more if you can afford it. Show customers that you are willing to go beyond what you need to do for their benefit, particularly if your company can handle the financial burden. Your company can demonstrate going “above and beyond” in various ways, all of which point to silver linings of the pandemic experience.
Communicate that your company will come out stronger on the other side of the storm. The temporary improvements that satisfy customers now may become permanent improvements to your company’s business model in the future. This will inspire confidence. The key here is to signal that your company is taking ownership of the situation, as much as possible, rather than allowing the situation to take ownership of your company and its valued customers.
COVID-19 will change so much about the way businesses operate, and your marketing strategy should be adaptable. Use this time to provide your customers with useful information or price assistance through your advertising, and plan ahead for the post-COVID-19 future when your ad spending begins to pay you back.
If you’d like more information on how to advertise during and after COVID-19, download our guide which contains resources and statistics to help you make the right marketing choice. While you’re at it, sign up for a free consultation with our account executives.