Rebooting Brand Strategy for Today's Time

The world is simply not the same as what it was a few weeks back.

Irrespective of where you are right now, the situation is more or less similar. Supply chains, marketing, ways of working, customer’s attention span, purchase patterns or even intent to purchase. Everything has been disrupted and it will take a good amount of time for things to get back on track.

And that track itself would be different than what we have been used to.

Before that happens, in the coming days, brands would be remembered for how they treat their customers during these tough times and afterward. A good number of Indian and international brands have raised to the occasion. Some are either contributing financially, some are helping their employees to manage the cash flow, assisting in open innovation and some are re-purposing their manufacturing capabilities to help the government overcome the shortage of essential items. All of them are being celebrated, cheered and looked upon as beacons of hope by their existing and potential customers.

Brands need to understand that, given the situation we are in, the attention time and the available time have both shot up. Especially for digital-first brands whose target customers are now staying online most of the time, and most probably are working from home.

As a country which looks like will stay in lockdown for a few more weeks, here’s what I think brands can do:

Digital Customer Service

As mentioned earlier, it is difficult for customers to come out. However, that does not really mean that customers won’t be facing issues. Short tutorials, guided troubleshooting DIYs, smart FAQs, and chatbots can really help solve customer queries on the go. That can also help brands to reduce the burden on customer care employees, while kind of pushing the customers towards digital means for customer service. Given the scenario, customers would be more empathetic towards brands and would be open to explore new ways of seeking help.

Warranty Claims & Support

As the entire country has gone under lockdown, many customers who might have issues with their products will not be able to send the product for repair or replacement. If the lockdown extends for a few more months, it will have an impact on a large number of customers. Hence, it will be important for brands to take a call on this and communicate the same in an effective manner.

I was really happy to see Huawei announce that they would be extending the warranty period by default for the Indian market, and soon Realme announced the same. Now both these brands are largely into mobile devices, which is still a low ticket commodity. I haven’t really heard anything from large consumer product brands selling air-conditioners, washing machines and such.

Myth-busting, Fact Check & Customer Education

As soon as the news of the pandemic started spreading in India, it also triggered a wave of fake messages. Within two weeks people had stopped consumption of chicken and eggs. Other than the unorganized sectors, some of the leading brands in the space were hard hit by this as sales had dropped by 50%. Brands like Licious came up with some posts and blogs to create awareness about chicken and egg being safe for consumption.

There's another myth about not using air conditioners to arrest the spread of the virus, as it supposed to be affected by generally high Indian temperatures. None of the companies have so far come forward to debunk this theory.

E-commerce Deliveries & Subscription Services

For the kind of TG, I have mentioned, e-commerce deliveries have become a part and parcel of life for the majority of them. Generally, there’s a 10 to 30-day delivery window. While pickups have been postponed and money has been stuck in the wallet, e-commerce companies should come with clear communication on how they plan to deal with this situation. Similarly, a lot of deliveries have been delayed and stuck, some got auto-canceled, but some are not sure how they are dealing with it.

For example, there are days where Supr Daily notifies that they won’t be sending scheduled deliveries and on some days they message that they will. Eventually, they are not been able to deliver in Mumbai but keep confusing the customers on the expectations. While I understand that they await government decision for clear classification, they cannot pass the same ambiguity to the customers. Being clear and honest with end customers can be helpful at such times, allowing customers to plan better.

Online Engagement & User-Generated Content

As I mentioned earlier, the TG we are discussing here is online and has much more time on hand. People are bored and are seeking recommendations online for spending their time during the lockdown. Brands with good content can not only engage their new customers but also attract new ones. Probably, it is also the best of the time, if they have not yet discovered how to leverage and curate user-generated content.

With the rise of TikTok and other similar apps, the hardware setup and experience is already out there. If done right, it can help the brands build their content pipeline during tough times and beyond.

Similarly, brands can release content around hacks and tricks to help customers explore their offerings in a more intimate manner. Many of the ed-tech platforms have made some of the courses free, which helps onboard a new set of potential customers, who would have otherwise not really explored digital learning channels.

Employee First

This can have a two-way impact - customers are looking at how you are treating your own employees in tough times, and so are your future employees. Both are important from the long term perspective. It is indeed difficult for companies to manage everything right, but this is the time to invest in their employees.

Governments are requesting companies to ensure that they do not cut down on salaries or indulge in any form of layoffs in the near future, as that can trigger another set of challenges. And brands are rising to the occasion - some have promised additional salary to see over the financial crunch, while a lot of Indian companies have ruled out job cuts.

Empathetic Marketing

Given the extended time in the crisis, it makes sense for the brands not to act like ambulance chasers. The current situation will stay like this for quite some time, and will also impact the habits in the near future. Hence, none of the marketing efforts should either be opportunistic by design or should look like one. Brands can instead focus on the much-neglected content marketing efforts, and ensure to be there when customers are looking – basically be there on Google.

Eros Now declared that there would be providing two months free subscription of their OTT platforms to help stay at home. Jio also used the opportunity to rebrand their existing offer as a work-from-home package with increased data limits.

Improved Notifications

Initially, when the lockdown was announced, everyone was extensively working from home. Even at that time, ride-sharing startups such as Quick Ride and S Ride kept sending push-notifications when their majority of target customers – IT employees were not traveling. I kept patience for two days and deleted them on the third day. Not being aware of the customer context in today’s time is a sin.

Here's an example of how not to do it.

Re-purposing Capabilities

If you are active on Twitter – you must have seen how brands are helping the government or the local administration in fulfilling the shortcomings in unique ways. Perfumes and alcohol brands are producing sanitizers, automotive manufacturers are exploring ways to make ventilators, shoe companies are making face masks, hotels are offering their space for use as quarantine centers, and even railway compartments are being used as mobile hospitals. It can be a good time to understand your own supply chain and manufacturing capabilities to explore how your brand can play a role in the coming months if you are not doing it already.

Reprioritizing CSR Spends

If you have a planned budget for CSR activities, you can reprioritize your CSR goals to understand how best society can benefit from it. A lot of people from the bottom of the pyramid will have huge implications on their job, life, and families. They ought to be on the top of the mind – need to be financial assistance, but a sustainable investment plan which can help them rebuild their life.

Digitalization of Workforce

One thing this pandemic has highlighted is the inability or delay in managing remote operations. Brands will need to plan and invest in ensuring that their teams have the right infrastructure in place for such situations. In fact, it would be great if companies can actually speed up to the “future of work” concepts and embrace them in the near term. It can help them beef up the security while reconsidering excessive investments in physical space. For companies or in teams, where work from home was a taboo, it can now become a norm.

Innovation Management

With a break from the competitive race of chasing targets, a good amount of team would be available to brainstorm in an effective less pressure setup to brainstorm. The current crisis has also forced brands to re-think the limitations, challenges, and assumptions. It can be a good time for brands to re-think and even re-prioritize their innovation funnels for many firsts in the organization's history.

For example, Google will move its summer internship program to a virtual format this year in response to pandemic. Brands can think on similar lines and redefine their ways of working across different streams.

It can be a good opportunity for brands to understand how customers are using their products and possible new use cases. I have seen a lot of tweets where Zoom users are not only appreciating the platform but are also thinking out aloud of how they are using it in not-thought-earlier ways. Not that all the ideas would be worth trying, but it can give enough indicators to the brand on they can position themselves in the market.

-------------------------------------------------------

If you are a brand who thinks that you don't really need to do anything, I have a surprise for you. Some of the folks are crowdsourcing information and updating on this dedicated platform, aptly named, https://didtheyhelp.com. People can type in the name of the brand and see how they helped the people in times of crisis, or also add if they see about the missing information.

Well, I think, I have shared an exhaustive list from my end. What are your expectations from the brands you love? Did you see/experience something which you loved and would like to share?

Please share your experience and expectations!

Most importantly, stay home, stay safe.