The global economy is at a low right. Brands are struggling to stay even where they are, let alone growing. The fight is not only for the market share or against the competition anymore.
The fight is for survival and the fight is against an unexpected opponent. The fight is against the effects of COVID-19. The fight is against the implications of the global pandemic. The pandemic which saw the whole world shut down for months. The pandemic which saw the global economy drop and the pandemic which saw millions of lives lost.
It was one of the biggest tragedies of mankind and saw many brands go bankrupt, run out of funds and shut down. But, where there is a will, there is a way. Humanity finds a way, humans find a way. Brands found a way to survive as well. Different brand management services showed the real powers they have and even made some of their clients grow. So, what are these strategies? How to manage a brand at the times of struggle?
Talk About It
In the times of struggle, the worst thing you can do is- disappear. Losing brand positioning in people’s mind is directly losing market share when it comes to a shutdown situation because when the business presumes, people have an impression about the brands and initiatives they took during the period.
You cannot go and sell in these situations either, what you need to do is- talk about it. Talk about the losses. Spread awareness, tell people to follow safety guidelines, talk about hope and how we will face this struggle and rise from it.
This should be genuine and not made up or sold from any point. Talk about it as a part of the society and how we as a community, as a society can fight this battle and how we need to respect our frontline workers.
Help
In the 21st century, people are smart and the media is everywhere. People hate being sold and lied to. So, in these situations, a smart thing to do is actually give back to society.
Help the cause, make charity, giveback to the people and help restore lives. This will not only make you a part of a society but will also leave a lasting impression.
Again, a major part is not to overdo the advertisement of these activities and not to sell in any manner. People appreciate genuine efforts and honesty is kept in high regard.
Empathize
This crisis gives you the opportunity to build a strong brand image of your brand. People are really vulnerable and scared at the moment. So, what you can do is address this fear and assure that your products or services, now or in future, will always try their best to help avoid any kind of hazard.
Adding safety guidelines to your normal procedure and faking them to the next level is a great example. You can use this to market and assure people that your brand will go the extra mile to ensure the safety or its customers as well as your employees.
Take Care Of Your Employees
In situations where you can’t spend a lot on advertisement, word of mouth is a great way to advertise and help your brand.
Your employees are your first brand ambassadors in this case. Treat them well, help them with their problems.
Stay honest with them and if you are calling them to work or if they are working from home, make sure they are appreciated and taken care of.
Marriott is a great example of this strategy as they follow “Happy employees keep the guests happy” policy.
Balance Long-Term And Short-Term
Adapting is the most natural thing to do in the cases of such struggles. A lot of brand management services will tell you to make a change or a pivot in your strategies or in your products.
This is relevant and can be true at times but something that is even more important is the balance. Like in everything else about life, there should be a balance in your strategies as well.
On one hand, you should make a switch or pivot taking care of and adapting according to the pandemic. On the other hand, you should keep hold of your ground and look at long-term prospects as well as already existing plans and investments.
The best option here will be a match and a middle of these two situations. A subtle change which is significant yet not defining is what you should be working on.
For example, For a delivery service, you can opt that all the delivery agents will always be temperature checked even after the pandemic is over. This gives assurance to the customers and yet not promises a huge investment or anything complicated such as “every package will be sanitized from now on”.
Keep The Bar High
A lack of resources doesn’t mean a lack of attention and motivation. This should be visible in the brand marketing strategy.
Any kind of mistake, sloppy design should be avoided and everything should be as per standard that is already set.
In these kinds of situations, people have a lot of time to consume and react to different kinds of data and content given to them. So, not only the competition is fierce, you will get seriously penalized if there is a drop in quality of efforts.
This goes for product, service as well as marketing.
Have a Clear Stand
Brand marketing services and agencies love the saying- less is more as people tend to remember a small set of words, a simple type of strategy or an easy to understand initiative as compared to anything complicated.
So, when designing your social media posts, your brand advertisements, brand videos etc, be specific and pedantic towards minute details.
Your message should be small, loud and clear. Everything should be saying the same thing and it should be simple enough for a 5 year old to understand. This is really hard to achieve but one can try as hard as possible because these things leave a mark that last for ages.
