Crisis Marketing Playbook for 2020 and Beyond
To quote Fury from the Marvel Universe, “No matter who wins or loses, trouble always comes round.”
In the Marvel Universe, there is a lot of action and it all happens in a compressed timeline. Luckily, the real world doesn’t work the same. Unfortunately, natural disasters, political divides, and yes, even pandemics, do happen. Today’s crisis is COVID-19. In describing this pandemic, the word “unprecedented” comes up very often. I would like to put forth a word I think might be a little more hopeful for us - “unprepared”. We were all unprepared for our routines and plans to come to a grinding halt. Now we are scrambling to find new ways of responsively marketing ourselves to others. There is always going to be a need for adaptation, but perhaps since “unprecedented” trouble is likely to come round again in our lifetime, we can think a little bigger. Maybe next time we’ll be a little less unprepared.
What’s in your playbook?
The concept of having a go to playbook in marketing is not new. Here are some key elements to consider for your crisis playbook based on a virtual conversation with Eric Hultgren from Mlive hosted by the Grand Rapids Chapter of Startup Grind. Eric reminds us that the overall goal is to stick to the relevant & useful, and doing the basics well wins championships.
Crisis Play #1: Avoid adding to the din
In the midst of crisis it is important to remember that many people have legitimate fears and you don’t want to make things worse for them. Day after day people continue to hear bad news and you don’t need to associate your brand with bad news.
The question to ask yourself while developing your playbook is: Does your content serve your consumer? You shouldn’t be talking about the crisis if you are only doing it for search engine results. If you aren't the answer to the question being searched for, then you are in the way of getting to that answer. You may cause your brand more harm than good.
Crisis Play #2: Bring Value and Positivity
What Value do you bring to others? Will they miss you if you are gone? How easy are you to replace? These are all questions to ask when determining how you can be useful to your market. The key to bringing value to others during a crisis is to continue to give it away knowing you might not get it back.
One way you can continue to communicate positivity during a crisis is to talk about how you are giving back to your community. Are there things your business can do to support your local community? As you share your activities with your network, be honest. A crisis is not a time for bragging. Look to what you do best, talk to your team, and apply yourselves to the crisis at hand.
Here in Grand Rapids, Eric pointed us to the case study of The Mitten. During COVID-19 they stepped in early to provide food for schools and began using their alcohol to produce much needed hand sanitizer for medical professionals. As employees began to be laid off The Mitten also invested in grants for its employees. They have embraced investing back into their community and employees even though they, like so many other businesses, don’t know what tomorrow looks like.
Crisis Play #3: Look to the future
During a crisis it’s not possible to know what the future may hold. Looking to the future involves making tough decisions and doing so with the right heart. How are you choosing to continue investing in the community? How will you take care of your employees? What do you want the future to look like and how can you make it real?
Ask Yourself Questions
The biggest two questions I recommend asking are these: Where Do You Want to Go? And How will you get there?
Here are a few more to consider
Where is your business now?
Where did your customers come from before? Where are they coming from now, and is there anywhere new you should be introducing yourself?
How do you create something to connect now? Later?
How do you turn the connection into business?
Set Goals
Setting goals for any time is important to keep you and your team on track and moving forward. During a crisis when normal business operations may not be happening it can be important to return to internet marketing basics such as:
creating a customer database
asking “how can we message to a list?”
earning and keeping the list after you make it
preparing for the next crisis event. What can you do now to be better prepared next time?
“What might be the ‘good leftovers’?”
As a crisis wraps up it is always good to look back and see what the “good leftovers” might be. Are there places where your business improved during this time? Did you make new connections that will help further your business growth? Did you learn new things about your target market and how they might react to a future crisis?
Reflecting on what he has already learned from COVID-19 Eric had a few “good leftovers” to share:
Many people are looking at marketing as a way to connect rather than just an expense or required line item
There can be joy in the new connections the would not have been made otherwise as people reach out for support
He feels we are more connected as a community and hopes this will continue
It has allowed society to think deeply about what matters and what we can get rid of
Quick Take from Eric
Parts of your playbook will continue to work during a crisis, but others will not. If you haven’t already taken the time to update your automated email sequences and change the message on your answering machine, do that now. With changes in the way we do business it is important that we communicate them to our customers and potential clients.
Postscript
Much like Nick Fury is always preparing for the worst while hoping for the best. I hope that some of these tips and strategies can help you be better prepared for the next crisis event.
Wishing you the best,
Andrew Pruim
Founder, Visten Creative
About our Guest
Eric worked for several years with iHeartRadio before joining the team at Mlive in 2014. He works with small to medium businesses on social communication. If you would like to ask further questions about Eric and his work, you can reach out to him via Calendly.com for a 15 minute virtual conversation.
What Next?
Reach out to us if you’d like help answering these questions. If you are interested in partnering with Visten Creative to either expand your brand or to become a creative partner fill out our contact form and we’ll be in touch soon.
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