What You Need to Know about PR and Marketing during the COVID-19 Shutdown
People all around the world are practising social distancing and staying at home to avoid contracting the novel coronavirus. This has affected the PR and marketing strategies or many organizations as we have witnessed numerous cancellations and postponements of important networking events.
With almost everyone now having to work from home, businesses have come to recognize that it can no longer be business as usual when it comes to PR and marketing. More than staying home to stop the spread of the actual disease, businesses who want to survive this outbreak must figure out a way to adapt their business strategies to these difficult times.
Why focus on PR and Marketing?
Since the outbreak of the on-going pandemic, people are panicking and looking for some sort of hope and solace. Most people are not necessarily looking to buy new products right now. So it’s only smart that businesses pay less attention to business developments or product offerings in these times and focus instead on PR and digital marketing.
Attempts to shove your products and services into people’s faces in times like this would be met with disdain, and most probably ignored.
So until this pandemic comes to an end, businesses are better off focusing on how to adapt their PR and marketing strategy to ensure your business remains relevant during this pandemic. To do this, you can hire experts at firms such as AgoraPublishing.com or you can keep reading this article for tips on how to adapt your PR and marketing strategies to these tough times.
How to Adapt Your PR and Marketing during COVID-19
Business2community suggests a few tips discussed below:
1. Work from Home as Much as You Can
Remember BiogenInc? The American multinational biotechnology company that held a 2-day business conference in Boston in late February 2020 with about 175 people in attendance; spreading the Coronavirus among a majority of those who were in attendance.
For a long time to come, Biogen would have to bear some responsibility for the spread of the virus in Massachusetts. Learn from their example and do not fall into the temptation of scheduling any face-to-face business meeting until long after the spread of the virus has been contained.
Work from home whenever possible and when there’s a need for meetings, make use of teleconferencing apps.
2. Stay Relevant to Your Audience
The best way to remain relevant right now is to help consumers at home cope with the changes currently going on in the world. Post social media content that addresses possible consumer needs and concerns in a lockdown.
For instance, if you are a restaurant that's currently shut down, you can post a few cooking tips for people who are stuck making their meals at this time.
3. It’s no time to Launch New Products
Well, not unless you want it to flop, because the truth is- no one cares. Unless your new product is a contact tracing app or better still, a vaccine or something else that's going to help the public overcome these difficult times, then wait with the product launches.
Do not use fear-mongering as tactics to sell your new products to people, that reeks of bad taste.
4. Focus on Online Services
Take the time to produce regular content that will benefit your strategy even after the panic dissipates. You'll be making use of social media a lot so make sure all the information on all your pages is up to date. Release helpful and interesting content that would ensure people do not forget you by the time this is over.
Ensure that your business blog, website or third party sites where listed and fully optimized for search engines. Finally, refine your SEO keywords to ensure your current content is as visible as possible.
Wrapping it up!
While it’s very tempting to focus on just your business right now, remember that hard times are the best times to show some love to your community. Look out for ways to help your employees and customers who have been affected by this virus. Do not lay off anyone unless you absolutely cannot afford to keep them, and find ways to help people who have been laid off. This might not be the typical B2B marketing tactic, but right now, it’s what your audience would appreciate.
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