BFTP | Stay Relevant for the Needs of Today Not the Needs of Your Campaign Plan

Audit Your Content Queue | Stay Relevant for the Needs of Today, Not the Needs of Your Campaign Plan

"This is not a time to sell; it is a time for community support"

There is something that every business should have done on Day 1 of the lockdown - that is an audit of communications initiatives, or as the sub-title suggests, "audit your content queue", to ensure that what they put out there into the marketing universe represents the new reality of the day. 

Review your entire messaging stream, including all social media platforms, promotional and transactional emails, push notifications, Whatsapp and SMS, even what your team members are saying during telephone calls, to identify communications that need to be paused or adjusted as a result of the situation. 

Put simply, take a look at what is planned, both in advertising, communications, and social media, for the foreseeable future. 

And Ask

- Is the message still relevant?

- Is the message still applicable?

- Could the message now be deemed offensive?

- Could the message now be viewed as tone deaf?

If you answer yes to any of the above, pull it, shelve it, change it - immediately!  And, it's not too late to change, even today. 

A great set of messaging just a few weeks ago may be rendered completely "off the mark" because of the events of recent weeks. So, rather than look the fool by seeming to be off in your approach, make the decision now to make changes. 

Stay Relevant for the Needs of Today, not the Needs of Your Campaign Plan! 

So many SME's out there are still weeks behind in this respect. Only in the past couple of days do we see some SME's starting to react properly, adjusting and realigning their messaging. Yes, better late than never; but still some are very late - and the later you are, the easier it is for you to fall into oblivion.

Whilst we always want "business as usual" as our modus operandi, the way in which that occurs is extremely fluid now, and as businesses, we need to adapt. So, tick tock, chop chop, ... 

Rethink!

Rethink your Language and Choice of Words

Focus on how you help, and how you as a business, are moving forward with your customers. Stop using the phrases "Due to the government MCO", "Due to Covid", "in times of crisis" and the like - these remind us of actions of the present and past, and are frankly depressing reminders. 

Remove such reminders from the message - they should have ceased by the end of the first week of lockdown anyway - be more progressive in your choice of words. Don't blame the crisis; show us directly how you are moving forward from it.

Stay positive in your choice of words as you move forward. Provide solutions, not reminders of the issue we are all facing. By all means give paramaters, but dont veil them in excuses. "Orchan is now open from 11am to 4pm daily" rather than "Due to the MCO directive issued by the Government, Orchan has reduced its operating hours to 11am to 4pm daily". The first is a clear solution; the second is shifting the responsibility and inviting pity. No thanks!

Rethink the way in which customers and prospects may view your product / service and its intentions

Be very careful with how you may be perceived. Could you be seen as opportunistic? Could you be seen as out of touch?

If you have influencer engagements for messaging purposes, is now the right time for these? Could they be seen as inauthentic or out of touch?

Put a very critical lens to your communications activities in order to ensure that you are "sensitive" to the shared community experience. Yes, we still want to be seen, we still want to have our brand positioned out there right now, but we have may more keyboard warriors online ready to challenge us, simply because they are at home with extra time on their hands.

Rethink your role in the community - now is the time for support, not sales

Focusing on helping your customers through this shared experience / shared journey is important. Being there, and continuing to be there for your customers helps them as much as it helps your brand. You may not have cash flow, but you will have consumers coming back to you once the lockdown is lifted.