How to write during a pandemic

1.    Lead with compassion and confidence.

Be empathetic to the situation around the world and what personal hardships or situations people may be mentally and financially in while representing a strong confident brand and having confidence in your messaging.

2.    Lead with the benefits of what your product or service will do for the customer.

How will you solve their problem or provide value to their life and then list the different ways. People don’t care about the features of your product, they care about how it will benefit their personal day-to-day life.

3.    Avoid institutional narcissism – avoid narcissist, selfish writing all the time but especially during a global pandemic. The worst is the humble brag (as seen in the example below) of saying you are so blessed to be a warm tropical vacation and flaunting your affluence while people are unemployed at home in lockdown or the false martyrdom of a CEO for example saying he can relate to people’s suffering because he will be receiving less bonuses this year. Keep the messaging direct to the people and how you can emphasize with what you imagine they are going through.

(Kim Kardashian's infamous 40th birthday Instagram post)

4.    Avoid clichés – Avoid using clichés such as “in these uncertain times” or “in these unprecedented times” and other overused phases. Talk to your audience directly using direct, transparent language that comes across as genuine, honest and true to the voice of your brand.

5.     Right tone and voice of your brand.

How your organization would talk selling a Harley Davidson is different than how it would selling Ikea furniture. Know who your audience is and what the mission and values of your organization are which will then set the tone and voice for the messaging. Although this messaging might tweak a bit to be aware of the pandemic realities, it should still stay overall consistent with the messaging and tone of your organizational brand.