“How to Navigate your brand voice in times of social distancing?”

The term ‘business as usual’ doesn’t quite cut it these days. Being in the middle of a health and economic crisis (pandemic) makes it rather tough to continue trucking along in life, let alone business. It can be difficult to navigate the uncharted waters in a deeply sensitive conversation, both offline and online.

Here are my thoughts on how to stay Connected & Relevant.

2020 has been a strange and challenging year for everyone and we are of course no different. However, I am optimistic about the future and believe that those who are able to adapt can emerge from this crisis as winners.

The Big Question is: How can we reposition our brands, ourselves, and strategies to play to our strengths and address communications in times of social distancing?

Pre-COVID plans for the year have now been largely affected in one way or another. Change is not a new normal it is an inevitable part of life. The only difference is the speed we need to cope with and this brings me to key terms brands should embrace always which are adaptability, flexibility & responsiveness.

It is ok to Pause, Listen, Evaluate, Revaluate and then Action. Brands today cannot afford to not have a presence on social, nor can they afford to not have a voice in timely topics. So, taking a proactive approach to brand reputation is key and this means not staying silent, especially when everyone is already talking! Yet, we shouldn’t just hop on the bandwagon for the sake of talking, we should take the best approach that suits our brand, voice and what our audience expect from us. Being authentic and deliver value is what will set our message as our own unique response.

Now is the time to be detailed, descriptive, and thorough in our messaging. We must anticipate the questions our client’s have and answer them thoroughly. Smart brands will work with the information overload and create content that still stands out. It just means we must be listening to conversations on social media about our brand, industry and our competitors more carefully.

Navigating shifting mindsets and goals can be quite challenging and the best approach is to zoom out and accept that our present marketing strategies may be absolutely ineffective because our clients have changed.

Key point to note is avoiding selling and instead offering genuine resource, help and value to our clients.

Our social channels are an extension of our brand values and engagement on social media with our audience is what sustains our community and propels our content into new ones — generating even more brand awareness. In sum, audiences play a massive role in brand reputation and perception. We found that in social distancing people wanted to stay connected even more and offering touch points to interact with them was extremely valuable.

Simple yet effective! staying top of mind as clients see that a sign of stability, security and capability. Never stop building and maintaining brand presence. If we are able to accommodate change, we will be able to adapt to the impact of COVID-19 and stay resilient.

It is important as a brand to ensure that our messaging is received in a respectful and reflective fashion. Sensitivity and gauging the right time are critical measures to stay relevant to our clients. Digestible and thoughtful marketing campaigns will be the ones that are able to offer the right message, at the right time and on the right channel.

Key approach is the ability to humanize our brands, as we will win in marketing only by building trust.

It is vital to be transparent share uprooted business practices, lessons learnt and bring employee concerns more front and center than ever. Now is the time to champion for our marketing to reveal just how trustworthy our brand is.

COVID-19 is simply accelerating the impact of the challenges we face in our industry and investing time in research and finding solutions is key. Resilient brands are who approach differently, embrace change, adapt, evolve, streamline, understand needs and collaborate with their clients.

Out of crisis comes opportunity and I personally learned a lot from this social distancing period. In the face of uncertainty, it is important to continue educating ourselves to navigate communication and leadership.