In every job description for a professional communicator or marketer there should be a requirement of being extraordinarily nimble and adaptive. We are living in unprecedented and unusual times — socially, politically, economically, and from a global public health perspective. Messages and marketing that worked prior to COVID-19, Black Lives Matter, American economic disaster, protests, and #MeToo may look like a brand or company is tone deaf right now, or worse, irresponsible.
Here are my top-7 Tips for marketing and corporate/brand communications in 2020:
- Listen: Right now the best companies, CEOs, marketers and communicators are saying, “I don’t know everything. Let me quietly ask, listen, learn and improve. Let me understand your point of view.” This is your moment to do that for your company. Get real with the executives. Look for the opportunities to be better employers, manufacturers, corporate citizens. We are in a period of enormous social unrest; seize it for the right reasons.
- Do the Right Thing: As the lead steward of your corporate or product brand, do an assessment of whether internally you are doing the right things. Are you living your values? Do you have the right employee policies, programs, and communications in place? Are your executives saying and doing the right things? If not, work with executive leadership and HR to implement appropriate HR policies and programs, and ensure employees know about any changes. Counsel your CEO or other executives. To hold employees accountable, tie metrics in your organization’s performance review back to your mission, vision, values, and the policies that support those values. At a minimum, this may include policies and programs that address diversity, inclusion, harassment-free workplaces, peaceful protests, social media, and much more.
- Know Your Customer: You likely know your customer segments very well. If not, a good usage & attitudes study may be in order. Now more than ever, it is important for your organization or product to relate to your customer in a way that resonates, and to align with your customers on values that matter to them, if they are shared values. This is not a time to be or say something you are not. But if your DNA and history of that commitment aligns, leverage it.
- Make Your Customers’ Lives Easier: Millions of Americans have lost their jobs and are having a hard time paying their bills and putting food on the table. Millions more have children at home while they try to work at home, juggling keeping kids busy (or learning) and trying to get their own work done to keep their jobs. Essential workers are putting their lives on the line for those who are staying home. In many states, businesses are semi-closed or required to be fully closed and suffering. Look at your customer journey. What have you done to reduce their stress or make doing business with you easier or safer? Have you created a seamless journey with today’s tech? You will build allegiance if you help your customers get what they need from you online and without hassle – from customer service to purchases to home delivery or curbside pickup. Third-party partners, mobile apps, and marketing communications that educate your customers are necessary. And connect all the dots. Some brands have not succeeded on this. Two big food chains – El Pollo Loco and Chipotle — marketed free delivery, curbside delivery or special promotions during the pandemic that required you to actually take your mobile app into a restaurant to redeem the promo for their best customers who were in loyalty clubs. Frustration is what they created.
- Don’t be Tone Deaf: Using the wrong words or images, or creating marketing or PR programs that just do not seem right for the world we are now in in 2020 are in bad taste and may actually hurt your reputation and business.
- Don’t be Unauthentic: The cousin of tone deaf in disingenuous. If a cause or affinity really matters to your customers, but it is not who your company or brands are, customers can smell unauthenticity and fake miles away. These types of programs often backfire. Do not be or say things you are not. Do not stand for something that one Google search on the internet shows is incongruous with your brand or product’s history.
- Politics are Divisive: Unless your product or service is political in nature, it is best to not be political in your marketing or communications. Right now it seems that just about everything from a peaceful protest to support a cause to wearing a mask for public health has been construed as a political statement. Just think through your corporate or brand messaging, marketing, and PR activities to not turn off customers who may not agree with something.
It may sound elementary, but if a program or message does not feel right or true to your organization or brand, it probably isn’t. Ask others for feedback if you are not sure. We are living in unusual times. And our words and actions are being judged. Take this opportunity to leverage what is happening in the world for honest change for the better.