With the majority of businesses still closed to consumers and several lay-offs occurring nationwide, it’s safe to say that accruing revenue through sales has not been easy for many companies. As the world is operating at a standstill, now is the perfect time for all businesses to take a moment with their teams to see how they can reach their target market in an effective manner without neglecting to keep current affairs in mind. By taking these actions, they will help establish a foundation for future business endeavors in the midst of a crisis.  

Be honest 

It’s super important to make sure that a business is not only communicating honestly to their consumers, but also to their employees as well. Without honesty during this difficult time, then the business will lose their sight of credibility with customers. Honesty is able to supply a company with the ability to effectively communicate. 

Along with honest communication should be timeliness. The company should always be the first voice to deliver news about the actions it’s taking. If it happens to be another publication or news station breaking the news, then it invites the chance for news to be misconstrued and not delivered in the preferred way. Loyal consumers deserve to hear new information from the company itself. This will give them more reason to follow along instead of relying on others.  

Provide genuine messaging 

When executing any kind of marketing campaign, make sure it has genuine elements. For instance, if a company is trying to pull at the heartstrings of a consumer with a non-profit organization collaboration but has no real affiliation to it, then the messaging will come across as fake. If a company wants to make a difference, they should do so with initiatives that align or show that the business owner genuinely cares and wants to be a part of the project. 

Genuine messaging will improve the longevity of the business. Informed consumers want to invest money in what they believe in and care about, and the messaging provided should be able to illustrate this perfectly.  

Hire one employee as acting spokesperson

For all marketing and messaging to come across effectively and correctly to the consumer/employee, one person should be designated for all press events and breaking news. A dedicated person acting as the face of a company will create a humanized voice for the company, which consumers will be able to resonate with the products they purchase. This action will minimize the ability for there to be any errors too. The spokesperson chosen should fit the representation of the company in the way that he/she will have business best interest and communicate to consumers successfully. This person will also only be able to create positive exposure for the company, so there won’t be any room for negativity to occur.  

Recognize the situation 

A successful company is one that is conscious of any present situation in the world. Marketers should always be monitoring current affairs, whether it has to do with political news or news having to do with other competitors. Any piece of news has the ability to affect the business. For instance, since non-essential businesses are remaining closed for the next few weeks, that means hair stylists won’t be able to cut and color their clients’ hair. As a result, more consumers will be led to purchasing boxed hair-dye products. If your business happens to be in the hair care industry, this consumer behavior creates the possibility to boost sales in business, which should be marketed and monitored carefully. 

Put preparations in place

While we can’t ever fully know when a crisis is coming, putting any type of preparation in place will help the process of going through it run a lot more smoothly. The business needs to make an outline that entails the necessary functioning to operate. With that, the company should also analyze any type of planning that’s already in place. This will allow them to see what is already working and what to eliminate to make the plan stronger to weather a future crisis. 

Set Objectives  

When making a plan, the business needs to ask what they want/need to accomplish in order to be successful. One of the major objectives should involve creating a process that will eliminate potential harm to the company and its employees. For example, if someone owns a restaurant and needs to somehow make money in the wake of something such as this pandemic, it needs to establish how to safely create food and deliver the meals to customers without getting them or the staff sick. This process could entail wiping down the kitchen during certain time intervals and providing the staff with protection gear. By establishing this level of protection, the company will not lose out as much revenue and still be able to keep employees secure.  

Manage costs 

With the closure of a business or the loss in revenue, then the company needs to have a heavy monitor on the kind of costs they’re creating every month. This will only create a sense of protection and preserve its longevity. This can be analyzed and executed in several ways. From a marketing perspective, long term campaigns may need to either be cut short or there 

From a production perspective, if the company requires several employees to ensure its proper success, then hiring more freelancers might be beneficial. They do not need to collect benefits from the company and may only work when it’s needed. 

If the business happens to be involved in an industry such as fashion, then leaders may cut designs in order to save money and still be able to feature a core collection.   

Create short term/long term solutions

When in the midst of a crisis, there’s a ton of loose ends that need to have a solution as quickly as possible. Since there are no clear warnings for when a crisis can take place, the marketing team should be able to work quickly and diligently to secure a stable response. While the short term solutions are in place, this will give the marketing team the time it needs for an effective solution to be applied long term. For a company to thrive, it’s also best to brainstorm possible outcomes for each of these campaigns. This will help to gauge how the target market will respond and the possible revenue that may be achieved.  

Don’t market ‘Business as usual’

By ignoring any sort of crisis whether it’s about the business personally or on a global scale, communication should not be ignored. By ignoring the situation, the business is unintentionally sending out a different message that could potentially hurt sales and it’s overall image. Marketing and public relations should work together to better assess what needs to be done. With that, consumer behaviors will most likely not stay the same and they should be closely monitored in order to give a better indication on how products can be marketed. When a crisis is occurring for anybody, marketers need to understand how to work flexibly so they can adhere to the new environment.