How to Market During a Crisis

I’m sure many of us would love to be “business as usual”, but even essential businesses have had to shift how they operate during times of crisis. The recent global impact of COVID-19 has been…yes, UNPRECEDENTED. But what does this mean for your existing marketing efforts?

While marketing pre-crisis had been a GO! In times of crisis, it is important to STOP and evaluate:

1. PAUSE and reflect on your upcoming campaigns and how/what you’d like to communicate with current and prospective customers. Everything should be up for review. Images used, content, call to actions, and tone. If posts, blogs, ads aren’t hitting the mark, shelf them. They can always be repurposed at a later date.

2. PROCEED with caution - the red light may be a temporary, but when we resume, messages may be a bit different. If your content is based on push marketing, (pushing products/services to your audience), you may need to try a more human approach.

3. Have empathy - engage in genuine conversations. Keep in mind your post frequency to ensure you don’t come off as spammy or advantageous of the crisis. Communicate with your customers with added care and concern. These are hard times for everyone, after all.

Get Started with Messenger Marketing

Answering your prospective (and current) customers as quickly as possible should always be top of mind. Are you utilizing all of the latest tools to enhance your customers’ experiences like Messenger Marketing?

What is Messenger Marketing?

Messenger Marketing is using messaging apps like Facebook Messenger to communicate and market to your customers.

Did you know that 80% of customer questions have been resolved by chatbots without having ANY human interactions? Chatbots are an excellent source of cost reduction for customer service teams and the busy small business owner already wearing way too many hats. (We covered chatbots briefly in our blog, Get (Even) More Social with Conversational Marketing.)

Since your business can’t initiate new conversations with customers through messaging, you can encourage them to start conversations with you. Here are options to get you started…

1. Think of your most frequently asked questions and set up automated responses. Do this with more than just a standard answer. Let your brand’s personality shine! Some FAQs may be:

   • Products you sell/services you provide

   • Price range of your products/services

   • Operating Hours

   • Business location

2. Create reminders and follow up messages for appointments booked through Facebook. For those with this feature set up, it allows you to send automatic reminders to customers the day before their appointment. This is a great way to keep users engaged with your business.

3. Boost your events! You will be able to chat with attendees regarding their event registration with Facebook Messenger.

4. Send Messages in News Feeds Posts - your Facebook posts can include call to actions, like “Get Messages” to start a conversation regarding a specific post.

Ready to tackle Messenger Marketing and optimize it for your business? Let’s get started today!

Turn to LinkedIn for B2B Leads

If you have a professional problem, turn to LinkedIn! LinkedIn is more than just a social media channel to utilize when you’re on the hunt for a new gig or as a business owner, a place to find your next top talent.

Did you know LinkedIn is responsible for roughly 80% of all B2B leads? With 9 billion impressions across LinkedIn’s feeds weekly, it’s easy to see why!

94% of B2B marketers use LinkedIn to distribute their content. LinkedIn can lead decision makers to your content and website, increasing the number of leads generated. For B2B websites, nearly half of all social media traffic is coming from LinkedIn.

If your advertising budget allows, don’t forget targeting advertising. It can not only increase traffic, but is also a more efficient way to pinpoint key decision makers by industry, job title and more.

More Stats on Why You Need LinkedIn in Your B2B Marketing Plan:

• 43% of marketers say they have received a customer through LinkedIn

• 92% of B2B Marketers leverage LinkedIn over other channels

• 79% of B2B Marketers view LinkedIn as an effective source for generating B2B Leads

If you are ready to utilize LinkedIn as a part of your social media strategy, give me a call to get started!