A crisis can be a double-edged sword for marketers. On the one hand, it provides an endless source material for campaigns, and forces them to innovate when it comes to reaching consumers. On the other hand, it can require the company to change its approach to branding almost wholly.
Crises affect everything at a fundamental level, and that includes the factors that make for good branding. Those factors are likely to be utterly different from the ones you are familiar with. These 16 professionals from Forbes Agency Council look at what key elements are likely to affect branding during a crisis and how companies can adjust their marketing to suit.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.
1. Have An Authentic Brand Message
Authentic brands have a value system that supports the company’s vision statement. This provides staff with a clear understanding of north in a time of crisis. Brands that have a clear, consistent voice are better prepared for a crisis. Knowing where your brand stands from the start creates an authentic sense of security for everyone when dealing with the unknown. – David LaRosa, Verso
2. Lead With Empathy And Creativity
During a crisis, you must lead with empathy and creativity, while always being in service of the overall experience. When there’s a problem and a brand rises to solve it in response, that’s one of the best things a brand can do for its customers. Creating a great experience in a moment of need will help your brand stand out and forge a lasting bond with customers that will far outlast the time of crisis. – Ross Freedman, Rightpoint
3. Ensure Transparent Communication
There’s a fine balance between protecting your business and employees, and being opportunistic in a time of crisis. Our priorities have been to serve our clients through creative thinking that takes both tone and context into consideration, and our employees with transparent, honest and frequent communication. – Fiona Bruder, George P. Johnson (GPJ) Experience Marketing
4. Make It A Storytelling Moment
People love a good story. And no good one is without drama. In a beautiful way, it’s prime storytelling time. What’s important now is to think about how your character (brand) can respond in a way that’s aligned with its core values and personality (products/services and communications). What you say and do should strengthen and show who you are amid this challenge — not muddy it. – Daniel Wu, Nimbly
5. Assess The Practicality Of Pivoting
While the knee-jerk reaction of many companies is to pivot their business immediately to survive in a time of a crisis, it is important to assess that it is actually practical to be able to implement your new plan of attack. For example, will the consumer see a disconnect between your new offering versus your old one that may hurt your brand equity in the long run and what budget do you now have? – Adrian Falk, Believe Advertising & PR
6. Be Human And Build A Community
In times of crisis, strengthening your branding efforts is as important as ever. Take this time to reinforce your focus on customer care and define your core messages as a business. Authenticity and humanity will go a long way. Brands that prioritize building a community that fosters consumer trust and connections above all will outperform those that don’t. – Matt Ramerman, Sinch Engage
7. Stay True, Don’t Be Tone-Deaf
Stay true to the core of your brand and figure out ways to humanize by exercising empathy. Think about what you want your employees, customers and ecosystem to say about your brand when we all emerge from the current situation. Strive for authenticity in words and actions. Share bright spots, share company stories, share unique perspectives — share! But do so in a way that rings true. – Natalie Nathanson, Magnetude Consulting
8. Keep Track Of Crisis Trends
Things to consider during a time of crisis include understanding the market state, the audience, current spending trends and the near future projections. As we’re experiencing with our clients, COVID-19 has changed spending habits — luxury product sales have declined while essential low-cost additions to everyday life have become the overall need. Focusing on the must-have items has proven effective. – Lion Shirdan, UPRISE Management
9. Be A Compassionate Business
I’m a big believer in compassionate business. The No. 1 consideration for implementing brand efforts during a crisis is to do the right thing before doing the thing that’s the most profitable. Today’s consumers are savvy and will trust your brand more if you were there to provide help in a time of need over just selling to them. – Elliott Phear, Night After Night
10. Ensure Messaging-Brand Alignment
Consumers are not looking for the “hard sell” and will be turned off by opportunistic behaviors. Ensure short- and long-term crisis branding remains a part of your brand’s DNA and aligns with what your brand stands for. This is also a prime opportunity to solicit thoughts from consumers directly. From there, you can develop content that will be both true to your brand’s story and relevant. – Susan Frech, Social Media Link
11. Audit All Existing Programs
Your marketing programs have a lot of things automated and scheduled. In a time of crisis (or sensitivity), you need to freeze and audit all programs so you don’t inadvertently blast out something that’s tone-deaf and inappropriate. Often with a few tweaks, you can make that content relevant to the current situation. – Bryan Scanlon, Look Left Marketing
12. Lead By Example
Don’t follow the marketing lemmings doing the same old donations or announcements; lead by example. Have CEOs drive to hospitals to help or hand out food, take care of your staff with masks and time off as needed, sell curbside even if it means keeping the lights on when you really could go all online. Taking that extra step makes all of the difference in a time of need. – Loren Baker, Foundation Digital
13. Lean On Brand Purpose And Promise
For our clients, we stripped everything back to each client’s brand purpose (why does it exist?) and brand promise (what does it deliver?). Then, we asked ourselves, “How does this brand deliver on its purpose and promise now?” That became our new brief. We took this strategic pivot to each client immediately, then began to put plans in place to start implementing these pivots. – Blair Brady, WITH/agency
14. Be Open And Flexible To Client Needs
Now more than ever, it’s important to be transparent and authentic. It’s certainly not business as usual. During this unsettling time, the most important thing from a branding perspective is to be open and flexible to the needs of your clients, in whatever form that may entail. – Ajay Gupta, Stirista
15. Anticipate Brand Impact Of Operational Realities
Layoffs, closures, higher support volume with fewer resources and customer service reps working from home are operational realities. How your company handles each of these will color your brand for the coming year or more. Think it through first by taking a big step back. Can you better align with your mission, values and culture? Are the terms contextually sensitive to the crisis at hand? – Serenity Thompson, A23 Advisors
16. Assist Those On The Front Lines
Of course we all want our agencies to survive and then thrive. Think about how you can selflessly assist those on the front lines with an app or a service. For example, we are offering free seminars on how to handle media in a crisis. Whether we get any notice is secondary to helping. My son’s graduate school class built an app for a local hospital so they can manage their workflow. – Andy Gilman, CommCore Consulting Group
Go to Source
Author: Forbes Agency Council, CommunityVoice
