Many companies are struggling to compensate for lost business due to the Coronavirus outbreak, yet these changes provide the opportunity to extend dedicated support and communication to your customers. Your business needs to remain active during these times in order to grow your relationship with customers and clients. It is how a business responds to a heavy situation that can transform how their audience interacts with the brand, ultimately with the goal of emphasizing brand loyalty.
Though not everyone has a disaster preparation protocol in place, it is not too late to build out a small business disaster plan. Implementing consistent and strategic business communication can create opportunities from the COVID-19 economy shock. This does not have to be a setback despite worries around the Coronavirus causing financial difficulties, instead, it can be an opportunity to foster client relationships in a new way and expand your business.
Five Business Communication Strategies During Times of Adversity
Below are five communication efforts that describe how your business can foster its relationship with your audience during a time of adversity.
1. Consistent Email Communication
We suggest starting a regular email update to your audience. How often you are sending audience-wide emails depends on your company’s bandwidth, how often your business is shifting because of the situation, and your specific industry, although the objective is to increase (or start) your email communication. Therefore, this could mean implementing weekly, bi-weekly, or case-by-case email updates, as long as you are regularly updating your audience on how your business is pivoting because of the ongoing COVID-19 circumstance.
Below are a few ways to position your emails and express how your business can offer value during the crisis.
Provide Reassurance
Everyone is being bombarded with disheartening news that offering reassurance to your customers will provide them with messages of positivity. By offering affirmative emails it will not only position your company as forward-looking, but it also provides means of hope to the recipients. A company that communicates through optimism and confidence positions itself as a reliable business both now and in the future.
Target Remote Workers
With many businesses now operating as a full-time remote structure, many of the employees are transitioning to how to work in this environment. Start to include ways for them to remain active while working from home. Offer ways that your products can be utilized while at home, such as recipes using your products, services that you can provide, or ways that they might use your company’s resources. This is your time to be creative and find a way to connect with the remote experience.
Show How Your Business Relates
Also, consider including messages of what your team members are also doing to adjust to working from home in order to stay productive and motivated. This allows your business to be personal with your customers by showing you are in the same situation during this time. This approach shows that you relate to their position and expresses solidarity through a difficult time.
2. Listen to Your Customers and Clients
In addition to weekly communication with your customers, we suggest opening up requests for your customers and clients to communicate with you directly. Now is the time to hear what they have to say, and try to incorporate their concerns into effective business changes. Your customers will communicate how your services and products can better help them, and that will lead to you reaching a broader audience in a more personal and impactful manner.
Below are a few ways to request and discuss on a personal level.
Ask and Share Responses
Ask people to tell you how they are using your products or staying busy while working from home, and pick examples to be in your weekly newsletters. Offer some kind of reward to the user who gets selected, like a discount for shipping or online ordering.
Implement Virtual Communication
Another important component of direct communication is offering real-time video chat for customer support. For example, offering virtual videos or calls for people that typically visit your office to ask questions, drop in for consultations, attend training, etc. can still continue online. Virtual communication allows your business to integrate trending technology that aligns with customer expectations as well as offer personal connections with your audience. This will give a sense of normalcy and give an opportunity for open communication between your team and customers.
For assistance integrating a video conference system or other direct communication services to your website, please get in contact.
3. Use Your Social Media to Its Greatest Degree
Many of your customers are going to be spending significantly more time online, so your business needs to have a presence on the social media platforms that they will be scrolling through. Your social media activity should reflect your higher online presence.
Below are examples of how your company can use social media:
- Summarize the information included in your emails
- Announce any new or changes to your services and products
- Promote new means of communication, e.g. Video chat or virtual meetings
- Explain what your company is doing to remain safe and smart during the outbreak
- Communicate how your supply chain is intact and safe
- Highlight the people who are still working to provide the services
Furthermore, start to interact on social media by replying to people who comment on your content or resharing informative content for your industry. Your business can use the power of social media to build human connections by having conversations with them and providing helpful content.
4. Express Your Gratitude
With all the changes and transitions, this is often an ambiguous time for businesses, therefore the best way to maintain a business is to strengthen your relationship with current customers and clients. To do so, you need to express your appreciation for them. We need to understand that doing business online is the new norm and building quality relationships with your customers online is not only a great business idea, but it is also a necessary one.
For example, send out discounts for your customers to use during this time in order to make it easier for them to get your products or services with an online switch. This will make them see that you are willing to work with them to make sure they are still able to receive your products and services, even if it is not in the traditional ways that they are used to.
5. Automate Your Communication
Last, consider using an automation system for sending out emails, scheduling social posts, and other marketing efforts. Manually creating and launching an online presence is a very time consuming and laborious task, but there are ways to conduct these responsibilities through automation.
Automation allows your company to streamline communication via multiple channels to ensure consistent messaging. By implementing automation practices with your marketing strategies it gives your business time to focus on other important work while maintaining direct communication with your audience.
To learn more about setting up and implementing automated marketing for your business, please get in contact.
At Evolve Systems we service a wide variety of clients from restaurants to manufacturers to service providers, therefore we understand how different businesses and industries should customize their communication. From different messaging to ideal platforms to helpful website features, we can guide, assist, and implement communication strategies that will enhance your customer and client relationships and grow your business, even during these difficult times.
To discuss these services directly with our team, please sign-up for an inter-working (internet + networking) conversation with our team. It is a virtual 15-minute one-on-one for you can explain your drawbacks and goals during this time, and we can explain what digital solutions are available.
Otherwise, please fill out the form below! We look forward to hearing from you!
