There isn’t a playbook for how businesses should navigate the current global pandemic. Predictions for the future seem to change every day, unfortunately Coronavirus will not magically disappear over night and even if it did the ripple effects of what’s happened so far will endure for months. It’s a reality we have to deal with.
It’s important not to stop communicating with your customers. Cutting your marketing budget may lead to temporary profitability gains, however when the crisis is behind us the challenges of a possible recession will be compounded by reduced brand awareness.
Now is the time to review your marketing plan and re-adapt it to respond meaningfully and creatively to the current marketplace.
Be mindful with your communication strategy. It’s absolutely not the time for aggressive email campaigns, however, it is the time to connect more thoughtfully.
You may want to save outbound messages for critical communications, remember you’re communicating in a highly over-messaged environment right now. For your outbound marketing you may want to communicate crucial information about product inventory or delivery times, information about a cancelled event, or a new policy to help COVID-19 relief.
Focus your inbound marketing efforts on educational messaging about how your products and services can help customers.
Many science companies offer products that aid the research into SARS-CoV-2 and a possible vaccine, highlighting these products, how they can help and any associated research is of great importance. It is however important to remember that other scientific products are still essential in times of crisis. Whether they be microbiology QC products for testing food and water supply, or analytical products ensuring the quality of drugs, scientific products really matter.
As we move through these challenging times we will hopefully emerge with people having a greater understanding of the importance of scientific research, the role of diagnostic testing and the benefits of medical innovation.
Conferences, exhibitions or face to face meetings are being either cancelled or postponed.There is now an even greater focus on digital and content marketing. Many exhibitions have already become virtual trade shows, sales people and technical support groups are working remotely and are adapting to use tools like Zoom to talk to customers. Good quality, clear and concise marketing collateral and digital assets are needed now more than ever before. Think about how your content can work and build engagement across different marketing platforms.
With offices and labs closed it can be really difficult to produce the data needed for new application notes and research pieces. So now is a great time to review your existing content and review how it can work harder for you.
Many science companies already have some really great research and application data, however, that data is often not totally utilised across a fully fleshed out marketing campaign. Maybe you have an application note that has been launched and never revisited. Conducting an audit of your marketing content will help you uncover these hidden gems.
Content atomization can help take a piece of marketing collateral and make it work even harder for you, but isn’t atomization just repurposing? Repurposing content typically takes the same piece of content and reformats it for use in different channels without significant change.
Reformatting content does not consider a marketing funnel approach and how the content sits in a marketing funnel. Atomizing content is when you break a key piece of content down into stand alone pieces that can fill gaps in your marketing funnel. An example may be taking the chapters of a white paper and turning them into a series of blog posts.
Talk to your sales and technical support groups. What challenges are they now facing when speaking to customers remotely via video call? Do they have challenges explaining complicated workflows to clients that could be simplified by using infographics or illustrations?
Now is a great time to review your sales aids and potentially divert some of your budget from cancelled trade shows and sales meetings to develop agile content that can help your sales teams effectively illustrate a product’s features and benefits in the ‘new normal’.
Finally - as people around the world are social distancing think about what your company can do to give back. Many parents are trying to keep children entertained or are home schooling, what can your company do to help? Whether it be providing fun activities like colouring in sheets or volunteering educational materials and time.
This situation requires pragmatism, flexibility and open-mindedness. Don’t panic - a free consultancy check-in might be more valuable than attending one of the many big group webinars for stressed out people.
Review your marketing plan - what is logistically feasible?
Conduct a marketing audit - maximise your existing content.
Review your sales aids - ensure sales have the correct tools.
Refresh your multimedia content - get the most out of virtual exhibitions.
Give back - it’s a difficult time for everyone, how can your company help?
Polymorphic Marketing offer free of charge consultancy calls - click here to book a check-in with us.
Comments