
Bill.com
A creative social media campaign with compelling copy and motion design drives 5.8% engagement rate and 22,000+ impressions
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In part one of our Branding During Times of Crisis series, we covered the importance of relying on your brand to guide decision-making in turbulent times. With a strong, resilient brand in place, it’s important to stay close to your audience so that you fully understand their needs and can adapt your business and strategies accordingly. Continuous monitoring of your audience’s behavior will ensure your brand is effectively reaching them in the right way, at the right place in the buyer journey.
Customer and prospect behaviors shift quickly in volatile markets, so it’s more important than ever to understand the needs of your audience. Keep a close pulse on your audience — research by Dentsu Aegis shows that customer attitudes and behaviors are changing at an increased rate right now. What is relevant today might become outdated faster than you expect.
It may be hard to determine the best way to communicate with your audience. Channel your brand personality and speak “person-to-person.” Now is not the best time to emphasize your competitive proof points or reasons to believe. Things to keep in mind when communicating:
Actions speak much louder than words. It’s easy to make claims when times are good, but how can you demonstrate those claims when times are rough? Keep a pulse on what your audience needs right now, and think about how you can benefit your customers or what adjustments you can make to your offerings to meet those needs. Things like adding a chatbot to your website to better serve your customers in real time might be a good way to back up your brand value of “responsive service.”
Comcast is following through with their value of “giving back” by making Xfinity hotspots free for everyone, including non-subscribers, and by providing new low-income customers free internet with increased speed for 60 days. For customers that can’t pay their bills on time, Comcast is waiving late fees through June 30 and ensuring that even though the fees may be delayed, the services will continue.
Now is the time to think about how your brand can pivot to meet your audience where they are, even if it’s an unfamiliar channel. Not surprisingly, content consumption across all audience generations and genders has increased.
According to research by Global Web Index, people are spending more time watching videos (TV, YouTube and TikTok) and playing mobile games. They are also listening to music and podcasts more. How can you engage your audience on these growing channels? How does your brand “voice” sound — literally? How can your brand be translated into interactive mobile content?
As you continue to communicate with your customers, you need to clarify why they’re choosing to weather the storm with you. Your customers might be sticking with you because of your reliability or because of your uninterrupted customer support. If they weren’t part of your original strategy, make sure those values are considered as you move forward.
Keep your eyes open for any hidden values you didn’t consider pre-COVID-19. Are there audiences you may not have previously thought of? Are there industries or services that are growing because of the current situation? This could be the time to invest in these areas.
Many companies are leaning into their resources for new opportunities to support the healthcare industry. 3M’s mission is to “apply science in collaborative ways to improve lives daily.” To do it, 3M is transforming its supply chain to manufacture respirators to support the growing demand. On the other hand, IBM is focusing on its value of creating “innovation that matters” by making computing power available to scientists and researchers who perform large, virus-related calculations.
Because of the current situation, children are stuck at home and are facing new struggles in their lives. Headspace saw a new need to support young kids and partnered with Sesame street to launch a collaborative program, Monster Meditation. The program is Headspace’s debut with the young audience, introducing basic meditation techniques and practices to guide children through these difficult times.
By staying close to your audience and keeping a close eye on opportunities for future growth, you can ensure your brand is relevant and engaging. Our next post will cover the importance of building brand loyalty – both during uncertain times and after. Click here to read more.
If your B2B technology or professional services company needs help with your brand strategy, contact us for a free consultation.