Where does the world go after COVID-19?

When COVID-19 hit, the world took a deep breath (masks on, of course) and many realised there would be significant changes in the way we operate, both collectively and individually.

For many businesses it signaled the end of “normal” practices, and those quickest to react positively would be those who survived best. Many took a negative and knee-jerk reaction, and laid off or sacked workers without a second’s thought: trashing lives in the process. Others, those with more foresight, understood there would be acts of faith that would stand them in better stead for future reputation and loyalty from current, past and future staff.

The pandemic brought a certain amount of creativity with it, and from personal experience, I saw some jump on board and benefit from it, while others floundered, flailing and sinking in a sea of uncertainty, with no thought of a lifejacket.

Times of crises always bring ingenuity, creativity and new ideas to the table, and it is the people who pull their socks up and make something out of it that find a way through. Those who refuse to see where they can move forward and take advantage of what is still on offer, or the new ways of creating a market or product will fail, subsequently die, and more than likely take a team of honest, hard working people with them.

It is the teams of hard workers I feel sorry for. While they are great foot soldiers, they have expected their leader to carry them through times of uncertainty, and the leaders among them have let people down: some more than others, of course.

Another thing that happens in times of financial crises is that the worst business leaders decide the marketing team has to downsize. Wrong! Wrong! Wrong! Ask yourself: what does a business need when there’s a crisis? More business. How can any business expect to survive when there is no marketing team to tell everyone what a great product they have? The fact that this happens in every single economic downturn does not mean out is the right thing to do. In fact, it is the possibly the worst mistake a business can make.

When everyone else cuts back on sending the right, positive message out, your business has to be the one leader in the marketing and communications department. Miss that, and you miss everything else. No marketing means no business.