Is your organization facing major marketing challenges due to the spread of Coronavirus (COVID-19)? You aren’t alone. As more and more communities begin to shut down due to social distancing or quarantine efforts, finding ways to overcome the complex issue facing your marketing teams is a top priority.
Potential layoffs and team consolidations
Your organization simply may not be able to keep everyone on payroll. Tightened budgets can mean a complete in-house marketing team just isn’t viable. But how do you run your company and bring in desperately needed new business (or pivot to service new verticals) without a marketing team?
- Solution: Refactoring your budget to fulfill vital needs during a crisis can help you keep your company afloat and competitive. Consider adapting your company departmental setup to keep key players on board and retain as many people as possible to avoid blowback when you begin to scale again.
Lack of attention towards your brand
It’s understandable that people may not have your product or service offerings at the front of their mind currently. Look for ways to work with the events in progress, instead of against them. Is your B2B business floundering? Now could be the perfect time for pivoting to B2C and meeting people’s needs where they are.
- Solution: Focus on long-term brand perception, not short-term business outcomes. Find ways to give back to the communities you operate in, and avoid self-serving actions during this time. By doing your best to aid others, you’ll build a reputation that will be remembered long-term.
Moving staff from on-site to virtual work environments
Having to make an abrupt changeover to fully (or almost fully) remote can be difficult for both employees and the C-Suite. Not every employee is equipped or suited for an at-home work environment, and not every manager is capable or interested in shepherding remote workers.
- Solution: Create a plan to demand accountability without micromanagement. Keep mandated group meetings to a minimum, and effectively lead them to maintain a credible cadence and forward momentum. Then keep lines of communication wide open using digital tools to keep your teams connected.
The shift in strategy from in-person/tangible marketing to digital
Your in-the-field sales marketers may be some of the hardest hit during the coronavirus outbreak. Trying to retool for digital-only is a massive challenge. While you can set employees up to work from home, they may not have the skills needed to translate their former tasks to digital. Trying to learn and manage multiple new channels during a time of urgency can lead to chaos.
- Solution: Leverage a 3rd party agency to handle your digital efforts. By handing off the reins to an experienced team, you can concentrate on innovating ways to get through the coming weeks with your company intact using the same knowledge and savvy that allowed you to build your company in the first place.
By using these solutions to break through the barriers facing you and your organization, you can weather hard times and come through stronger than before. Keep in mind that the world is watching how companies react in these days of uncertainty, and marking which ones they want to do business with when normal life resumes. By putting your best foot forward now, you can reap the benefits later.
