Marketing is not what it was last week. What to do now to preserve your brand.

The coronavirus COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way marketers need to connect with their audience, their followers, and their customers. There is a new normal today. There will be a new normal tomorrow and the day after that. The audience that has settled out there now as a result of this crisis basically falls into FOUR categories. Reaching them will take skill, creativity, empathy, and compassion. It will require understanding that who your audience was a week ago is a vastly different audience today. It will require doing things that go against the grain of what and how you were marketing just a week ago. You must do some basic things now to preserve your brand.

The first of the FOUR categories are the people that have decided to put the brakes on doing anything now to consume your brand. Unless you are selling toilet paper or hand sanitizer chances are you are either temporarily closed or your team has wisely retreated to the safety of their homes and you are closed for normal business. So the people that have put on the brakes are not going to do anything right now to consume your product or service. They are just hunkering in and riding this out. This does not mean you can’t continue to speak to them, but the messaging has to be empathetic and understanding. Do not contribute to panic and hysteria or reinforce that nothing will ever be the same. Understand their fears, but don’t contribute to them in your messaging.

The next group is those that feel some pain with all of this disruption but are patient that it will subside and normalcy will eventually return. They get that they have to practice social distancing to protect the vulnerable in their community. They understand that practicing safe hygiene will save lives. They are fine with the lockdowns and quarantines. They know, or are hopeful, that this will all eventually pass. The messaging to this group is different than to the brake-pumpers. You need to reassure them that when things do return to normal that you are there for them. Build trust and rapport with them so they know you feel the same way. Show them what your brand is doing now in the meantime until things return to normal. Be human with them. These are the people that want to see other people now, so if you have images of your team doing things behind the scenes now, post them. They will respond and identify with them and they will feel reassured that you understand how they feel.

The next group is the people that are comfortably well-off and will continue to spend no matter what. They are not phased by the hemorrhaging on Wall Street right now. They are aware that there is a crisis but are not reacting to it. They are not concerned with the facts of the crisis, the unemployment projections, the loss of income, the evaporations of 401K plans, or how they are going to pay their mortgage or rent next month. They are not going to let the gloom take them over and refuse to alter their life drastically to cope with the changes. They are just going to keep doing it the way they did it last week, last month or last year. To them, not much has changed.

Lastly, there are the people that will live for today. Think of the college spring break crowds that are assembling in mass disregard and partying on the Florida beaches. They are cavalier in their lifestyle and are ignoring the warnings to social distance. These people will do things they want now and if they get the virus, oh well. They figure that if they get the virus, at least they had a good time getting it. They realize that they are self-centered in this thinking, but don’t care. You need to target messaging that speaks to their choices without scolding them or signaling them out as reckless and dangerous. These people will eventually see that they are quickly becoming the minority and will settle back into one of the three previous groups I have laid out above.

So knowing what group your audience is in now will help you message the right marketing later to persevere your brand. Here are some things you need to think of while deciding how to preserve your brand.

• Don’t disappear as a brand. Decide on a group or groups and trickle content out to them. Cutting back is fine but don’t disappear until this blows over.
• Mitigate the fear. Don’t terrify your consumer. Stay calm in your messaging to them but keep it real and be human.
• Un-automate your posting. Don’t send the video of the cats on Tuesdays and the playful squirrel videos on Fridays anymore. Embrace the gravity of how things are now and customize your messaging accordingly.
• Be a public resource for your audience now. Be relevant and positive for them. Show them how to get information that they are looking for now.
• Lastly, find time to take care of yourself. This is going to be a long duration crisis, so take time every day to enjoy being with your family. Go for walks, disconnect from the world every day for a little while. Keep your mental health at the top of what you need to maintain daily.

Be human in this time when people need it most.